Rain
by Satori Blackthorn
Summary: WesJen pairing. Can a few simple words bring Wes back from the dark side? We've finally reached the end. Epilogue posted! What awaits Wes and Jen in the final rain shower?
1. Rain, rain go away

I'm posting this as a test run, just to see if anyone is interested in reading the rest of it, when it's written. Tell me how you like it and feel free to submit any suggestions that I can work into it.

Disclaimer – not mine. All the seasons of Power Rangers belong to their prospective companies and rich people. Sigh.

Thanks 

Satori

**__**

Rain 

Introduction

Wes' Point of View

Rain,

There's something peaceful about the rain

It's never the same

One minute a mist, the next, a downpour

Always changing how it feels

Like Jen

Maybe that's why I fell in love with her

What I want to figure out is when I did

I think that it was the time when she took Ransik on alone

I actually 'saw' her

I saw how loyal she was

How much she cherished her memories 

But I can't tell her how much I care for her

I can't interfere with her destiny

I can't get in the way of her and Alex

Even if I did tell her, why would she waste her time on me?

But I still wonder what her reaction would be

Would it be a gentle uncaring rain shower?

Or an irritated thunderstorm?

I have got to stop thinking like this

It'll drive me crazy

I can't sleep anymore because I keep thinking of her,

Imagining when she and the others have to go home.

But lately the dream has been different, 

I'm having nightmares

I keep seeing a giant storm swirling in the sky

And the entire town is being burnt to the ground

The rangers are dead

The future is lost

And I'm watching, powerless on the ground

Now could you sleep if you kept on seeing your friends die?

Over and over you watch the scene play

It's the same thing each time

Deep down you know you could have stopped it

But you also know that it is somehow your fault?

I can't figure it out

How could I be the end of the rangers?

That's what's killing me, because I can't believe it.

They're my best friends.

I try to hide how this is effecting me, but I can't 

I'm always so tired; it's like I'm permanently zoned out

I heard the others talking earlier 

I knew that they'd clue in, eventually

I mean I live with these people

I fight for peoples lives with them

I know that Lucas has noticed how I've been acting

Even if he doesn't say anything

And Katie of course,

But what about Trip?

Who knows what goes on in that alien head of his anyway?

What about Jen?

No, why would she notice?

Why would she care for that matter?

She's got Alex back in the 30th century

Why would she bother with a guy like me?

Compared to Alex I'm nothing

He's the perfect ranger from the future

A future that I have no part in

A future that I have no right to interfere

I'm just history, literally 

__

Rain, rain, go away,

Come again, 

Another day…

End of Intro


	2. Stories, Suspicions and Secrets

Disclaimer ~ As I said before, no one in here belongs to me, save Psykincon, but he freaks me out anyway. Ask me if you want him. 

Feedback is appreciated, maybe it'll give me some incentive to finish this. Thanks

Satori

****

Chapter 1 

Stories, Suspicions and Secrets

Wes was sitting in one of the windows in the clock tower, watching the rain fall on the quiet city below. He and the other rangers were taking a break from fighting mutants and were supposedly relaxing. There was an odd amount of tension in the air and all of the rangers were tense. The lack of attacks on the city was causing them to become suspicious and no one was really enjoying the break. The other four rangers and Circuit were sitting around the picnic table talking softly.

"Hey guys have you noticed anything different about Wes lately? He seems a little out of it, quiet you know?" Trip asked, looking over to the topic of their conversation, who still seemed quite oblivious to what was going on.

"Yeah, now that you mention it for the last two weeks he's been acting more and more reclusive." Lucas said taking a mouthful of popcorn and stuffing it in his mouth.

"He doesn't talk or laugh much anymore," Katie added passing the bowl around and taking a handful herself, "and whenever we're at a job he doesn't goof off and just gets the job done quietly."

"He's not teasing Trip about the ways of the 21st century anymore." Lucas said chewing his food contemplatively.

"You don't think that he's sick do you?" Trip asked worriedly.

"No, I don't think this is something that's wrong with him physically, but mentally," Lucas answered.

"Maybe it has something to do with when Mr. Collins almost died from the attack by Ransik a few weeks ago, and Alex had to come and help us to beat Frax?" Circuit said circling around the picnic table and coming to a stop on top of his perch. "Could be an emotional side affect?"

"I don't know Circuit," Lucas said, "I think that it has more to do with the future than this time."

"What do you mean?" Katie asked.

"Why don't you ask Jen what she thinks?" Lucas replied.

"Jen? Do you know what he's…" Katie said, twirling around in her seat to look for Jen but she wasn't there.

"Jen? Where did she go?" Trip asked.

"She left about the time that we were mentioning Wes having something wrong with him. I saw her quietly get up and leave after Wes disappeared."

"What?" Katie, Trip and Circuit chorused and turned their heads to see if Wes had actually left. Lucas had been right; Wes was gone off of his perch over looking the city. 

"LUCAS! Why don't you ever mention these things before!" Katie yelled.

"You never notice yourselves so I choose to disclose the information when I deem necessary." Lucas answered calmly, leaning back against a supporting pillar, looking superior. "Anyway," he said, "Getting on to the topic that I would like to discuss, I think that we all have some vague idea of what is going on here don't we?"

"Yeah, Wes is crazy about Jen. But for some reason he has been slowly getting more and more withdrawn until even we've noticed it, but we still don't quite know why." Katie said.

"Yes, but have you noticed how Jen has been acting lately?" Lucas asked but no one answered all that he got in response were two blank faces and an unknowing robot. 

"Ok, since it seems that I am the only one that actually notices anything around here… Jen has been acting more and more off-centred and unlike herself. It's as if something has happened that changed her whole outlook. The only times she's really happy is when we're doing a job or she's talking to Wes."

"So what exactly are you saying Lucas?" Trip asked looking over to the blue ranger with laughter in his chocolate-coloured eyes. "That Jen is in love with Wes and is just afraid to show it and that when Alex came back she realized that she didn't love him anymore so getting back to the year 3000 isn't really important anymore. All that really matters to her is spending as much time with Wes as possible before we have to return?"

"In a nutshell, yeah." Lucas replied.

"WHAT?" Trip and Katie chorused.

"I was joking, well sorta…" Trip exclaimed, "I guess that my subconscious mind knew all along."

"Yeah, anyway… So the real question is what are we going to do to get the two of them together?" Katie said leaning forward placing her chin on her hands. "No problem, except that we are working with the two stubborn-ist people in the entire history of romance!" 

"And don't forget," Circuit chimed in, flapping his wings impatiently "we have to try and figure out just what is wrong with Wes. Even though we're pretty sure that it somehow relates to Jen."

"Just on thing though, we have to do this carefully. Even though they are stubborn, they aren't stupid," Lucas said, "So, since I alerted you to their dilemma I think I should be the one in charge, is that understood?" Lucas waited for an answer but the others agreed with him. If he hadn't said anything then they would never have noticed.  
"Great!" Lucas said, "These next few days are going to be anything but dull!"

Meanwhile Jen was sneaking down the old stairs of the clock tower being careful not to make any noise that would make her presence known. Apparently it didn't work because as soon as she got to the bottom of the stairs,

"Why are you following me Jen?" Wes called out.

Surprised, Jen jumped and looked around, "Where are you?"

"Right here," Wes answered as he stepped out from the shadows, "Sorry I scared you, but why are you following me?"

"I wasn't following you," Jen replied with reservation evading looking him in the eye.

"Right, is that why you were sneaking down the staircase?" Wes replied his voice rough.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay," Jen answered looking at him. She saw that his normally cheerful face was tired and his eyes were red and bloodshot, they also had dark bags below them. He wasn't smiling and his shoulders were hunched as if, they too, were exhausted. His whole body looked as if an invisible weight was bearing down on it. He didn't look like the Wes that Jen knew at all.

"Are you okay?" Jen asked resolutely.

"I am fine," Wes said forcing a fake smile, "I just haven't been sleeping very well lately."

"Are you sure?" Jen asked with a note of authority in her voice. 

"I am sure!" Wes answered almost yelling, "Why do you care anyway?"

"I care because you're one of us Wes," Jen answers with a hint of hurt in her voice. "Sorry if I'm bothering you but you're part of the team, our team, and I was worried about you." She turns to leave when Wes replied sadly.

"I'm sorry," he said looking at her with a pained and tired look, "I shouldn't have blown up at you like that I'm just in a bad mood, are you mad at me?"

"No I was bothering you and digging in where I wasn't concerned, it wasn't my place." Jen answered staring at the wall careful to keep her voice neutral. 

"I'm still sorry," Wes said again, he walked up behind Jen and stopped, debating whether or not to put his hand on her shoulder. He shook his head, realising it wasn't the time. He turned around and reached for the door handle.

"Do you want to talk?" Jen asked still not moving from staring at the wall, "Doesn't have to be about what's going on just anything, might make you feel better, ya know," she turned and looked Wes in the eye, "that is if you want to?"

Just before Wes answered Trip came running down the stairs Jen and Wes turned around swiftly at the sound of his feet. Trip pretended not to notice the suspicious and curious scowls that he received and instead yelled back up the stairs,

"Where did you say that you put the record book Katie? I can't find it!"

"It's in the top left-hand drawer of the desk Trip! Can't you see it?" Katie called back to him from the floor above.

"I can't find it, come down yourself and find it, I don't see why you really need it anyway…" Trip said mumbling the last part under his breath.

He then turned around and pretended to notice Wes and Jen staring at him from the other side of the room with the identical angry suspicious glares on their faces.

"Oh, hey, you two we thought you had a job you didn't tell us about and had left." Trip said, smiling but his cheerful smile changed to an annoyed one when Jen asked,

"Why does Katie need the record book anyway, Trip?"

"Well, she wanted to see how many jobs that we have taken and see if we need to put out any advertising to pick up business."

"That's a great idea but if we need it tell her to go easy on it and not overflow us with charges." Jen answered as Wes looked on silently.

"Only if she figures that we won't have enough money for food. And that's _only."_ Jen continued.

"Sure no problem, we'll get on it as soon as Katie finds that book." Trip turned and ran back up the stairs.

When he got to the top a barrage of whispered questions attacked him.

"What were they doing?"

"Did Jen find out what was bothering Wes?"

"Did you hear them?"

"Did they see you?"

"Did they fall for the advertising idea?"

"Were they suspicious?"

"How was my acting?"

"They were talking as far as I know, I don't think she knows what's bothering him, I heard them talking when I was walking down the steps. Yes, they saw me; I jumped the stairs! Yes, they liked the advertising, I don't know if they were suspicious and Katie you yelled perfectly!" Trip said answering their questions in perfect succession. 

"Ok, that was very, weird." Lucas said staring at the alien.

"Yeah, Trip don't ever do that again." Katie said seriously.

"Great," Lucas said interrupting her, "they don't suspect anything, now Katie it's time for step two, it's your job to get them together outside and get them in the mood to talk, and remember don't make them suspicious!" 

"Got it chief!" Katie said, but before reaching the stairs she turned around and gave a quick mock salute.

"Just get going!" Lucas said, the irritation building in his voice and he turned around and folded his arms. Looking out the window he said quietly to himself,

"It won't be long now. Everything is going according to plan!" 

End of Chapter 1


	3. The Set Up and The Fall

Disclaimer – Power Rangers aren't mine and all those who think otherwise should get their heads examined. No offence. I make no money off this, just so you know. 

Thanks to my reviewers (3) thank you for your suggestions and I'll try to work them into the story. Many thanks to Ibonekoen who pointed out that my format in the first two chapters was majorly screwed. 

Please review, you don't know how happy it makes me… ;)

Satori 

****

Chapter two 

The Set up and the Fall

Katie jumped the last step and landed gracefully at the bottom.

"Hey guys! Do you like the idea of the advertising?" Katie asked casually as she searched through the drawers of the wooden desk.

"It's cool, just don't overdo it," Jen warned laughingly.

"Yeah, we'll have more work than we can handle." Katie answered laughing too. Wes was still quiet.

'That won't work, I have to get them out of here,' Katie thought mischievously.

"What are you guys doing down here anyway?" she asked thumbing through a large mass of papers.

"_I _was just going for a walk," Wes said, speaking for the first time since Katie and Trip had arrived. He emphasised the 'I' so he could leave alone, then with a glance at the two girls, he turned to leave.

"Where are you going to go?" Katie asked acting curious.

"Anywhere my feet take me," Wes replied lamely.

"If you don't have anywhere special to go why don't you pick up some more vegetables?" Katie said pulling out another drawer. "The ones that Trip picked up Monday are getting soft. And while you're at it why don't you pick up a pizza from Toni's?"

"I don't have my car here and my bike is too low on gas to go all the way there and back." Wes answered turning back around to face the black-haired girl, "I can't carry that all the way back here by walking, Katie." 

"Jen will go with you then, jeez, you're such a whiner!" she answered and in triumph pulled something out from under the desk.

"Hey Trip I found it! It was underneath the desk with a bunch of dust-bunnies that Lucas missed from when he was sweeping yesterday!" Katie dusted herself off and started to run back up the staircase. Wes and Jen began to leave as well.

"Wait a minute you guys can't go out there in the rain without an umbrella! Here…" Katie grabbed one of the ones from a stand by the stairs, "now hurry up the grocery stand closes in an hour and a half."

"That's plenty of time," Jen said.

"Yeah, but we want the pizza back here too!" Katie laughed and tossed them the umbrella. She then ran up the wooden steps. Silently she stopped in the middle of the flight of stairs and leaned towards their voices. 

*~*

Jen reached out to catch it but at the same time Wes held out his hand. They both caught it and for a brief moment their hands brushed against each other's, then embarrassed they looked away. Jen still held the umbrella, so Wes opened the door for her and together they walked out, both of them smiling.

*~*

Katie bounded up the rest of the steps as soon as she heard the door close with a soft click. Over-excited she almost tripped on the last one and struggling to regain her balance she ran headlong into Lucas.

"OhmyGodyouwilltotallynotbelieveit! Isototally ROCK!" She yelled jumping up and down.

"Did you catch any of that Trip?" Lucas asked as the green-haired ranger came to see what was going on.

"No, at least, I don't think I did." he answered.

"Guys," Katie said calming herself down with deep breaths, "I am the absolute best matchmaker! Maybe I am not the best person at noticing small stuff, but I am the best matchmaker!" 

"Explain," Lucas said simply. 

"Come over here and you will see for yourself!" Katie said triumphantly.

Together the three of them, including Circuit, crowded into the window in the clock face. 

"There they are," Katie crowed, "and if you will notice they are talking and smiling and standing quite close together. And do you know why?" she paused as if to add dramatic effect, Lucas and Trip just looked at her with their eyebrows raised. "Fine," she said when she didn't get the suspense she had been waiting for. "I took the liberty of arranging them to go and pick up some vegetables at the stand because the other ones are getting soft. Then the two of them are going to pick us up some of Toni's pizza for supper."

"That was great thinking Katie," Lucas said.

"Plus we get to have pizza for supper," Trip added.

"But," Lucas added, "What did you mean about them standing so close together?"

"Oh," Katie said beaming "That's the best part! When I told them that they had to take an umbrella I made sure that I tossed them the smallest one there!"

"Great! This is going perfectly!" Lucas said turning to face the rest of his crew.

"We'll have to lay low for awhile so that they won't start to suspect anything that means no pairing them up on jobs, or making them suspicious by any other matter. Got it?" Lucas asked.

"Yep!" They all answered enthusiastically.

"Right, we have to make sure that this plan is fool-proof, Katie you and I will check through that record book and see if we really do need ads put out. Trip, take the veggies out and roll them around, or something, to make sure they're a soft. Circuit you keep an eye out for when they come back but in the meantime you can help Trip."

"Wait a sec, Lucas, are you sure that this is the best thing for them? Getting together I mean?" 

"What are you talking about Trip? Of course this is the best thing for them!" he argued, "you've seen how mope-ish they've been all week."

"But we're going to have to go back to the year 3000 soon, what's going to happen then, do we want to get them together only to have them face more heartbreak?" 

Lucas shook his head, a pensive grin slowly spreading across his face, "I know where you're coming from my friend, but you've heard the saying – 'it's better to have loved and lost then to have never loved at all. This will all work out eventually. Trust me. I'll make sure of it. For now let's concern ourselves with the task at hand okay, leave the future stuff to me."

"Got it Lucas!" Circuit answered, the other two nodded, still processing Lucas' premonition, and together they set out to do their assigned tasks.

*~*

"Wes? Wes? Hello are you in there?" Jen asked waving a hand in front of his face.

"Wha…? Sorry Jen I guess that I just zoned out there for a bit. Did you say something?" Wes said looking over to the shorter brown-haired girl. She was looking up at him with a curious smile on her face.

"Well at least you answered," Jen replied.

"I was just thinking. Sorry, I guess that I must've looked like a walking zombie huh?" Wes laughed quietly. "Did you say something while I was off in dream-land?" 

"No, I was just wondering if you were feeling better." she said.

"I guess so," Wes said adjusting the umbrella's position so the rain wouldn't fall on his shoulder. "I'm real sorry that I blew up at you earlier, I was just in a bad mood."

"You don't have to keep apologizing Wes."

"I know."

"So, why the sudden change?" Jen said as they moved over to let a biker pass them.

"Well," Wes started then turned away, feeling his face growing warmer.

"What?" Jen asked, her smile growing a little wider.

"To tell the truth I don't really know," Wes said looking out from under the royal blue umbrella they were sheltering beneath. "There's something about the rain that makes me feel calmer. I like listening to it when I'm outside. Plus, I was feeling so cramped up in the clock tower with all the others around I just needed out. This is my way of escaping my problems."

Jen just nodded and the two of them continued walking. They walked in silence through the park. As they walked over a bridge passing over part of the lake they stopped for a minute to look over the railing. The surface of the lake was covered in the rings of ever-spreading ripples.

"It's so peaceful, and beautiful," Jen said quietly.

"Yeah," Wes agreed looking at her and smiled one of his signature smiles, "it is," Jen turned her head and when she saw him looking at her she blushed.

"Come on," he said, taking her hand, "We had better get to that vegetable stand."

"Yeah," then, still holding hands, they continued on their way.

Jen tried not to notice how warm and comforting his hand was on hers. She tried not to think about how safe he made her feel whenever she was with him but she couldn't. All that she could think about was how much she needed him. 

Wes was having the same thoughts. He tried pushing them away but they kept returning. It was like throwing a boomerang; they just kept coming back. Each time they were stronger then before. Just thinking about her warm, slow smile made his heart beat faster.

They both wanted to pull away but at the same time they both wanted to tell the other how much they cared. They both wanted to tell the other that they didn't ever want to be apart and that they didn't want the rangers to have to go back to the year 3000 when the mission was completed. They were caught in a paradox of immense proportions, his present was her past, and her present was his future. 

They both knew that they had ultimately fallen and there was nothing they could do but to be together for the short time they had. This was as good as it was gonna get.

End of Chapter 2

A/N so what if it was bordering on major sappiness near the end. I added in a big part for Lucas, (thank you cmar) and more matchmaking stints will be in further chapters. Don't worry all you die hard Eric fans, he'll be here… sometime (furrows brow in frustration trying to think of where to put him in…) I'll get there eventually

Review please

Satori *~* - the little face is me when I am trying to write, I thought it was cute…


	4. A Dream and an Evil Plan

PLEASE READ!!

Hey again everyone – once again thank you to everyone who has reviewed for my story so far and I hope that you are all enjoying it. And once again I must put forth a call for help… here we go…

HELP ME!!

There – I need a _little_ bit of assistance in deciding where to go from here, well not exactly from HERE seeing as how I have chapters 4 and 5 written already and am just working on perfecting them… but you know what I mean. I need a _small_ bit of inspiration and guidance of where to go with the plot and if ANYONE has any ideas (or words of encouragement) I won't stop you from clicking the little reviewish button thingie at the bottom of the page. 

Anyway, now that that's done with… here's the disclaimer - 

I do not own power rangers or any of the characters within this story – save Psykincon because he is the result of my sadistic imagination. There I said it – happy? I wish I could at least _rent_ Eric - who, might I add, WILL be making an appearance (besides the very small and seemingly insignificant cameo in this chappie) … as soon as I can figure out where else to put him. Hint hint- all those reviewer type people could help there too… maybe… if they really wanted to make my day…

Please?

Thanks to all my readers!

Satori

Whoa, that was long! ;)

*~*

****

Chapter Three

A Dream and an Evil Plan

"We'd like a dozen apples and oranges, a head of lettuce, one celery and a 2lb package of carrots please." Wes told the man running the vegetable stand.

"No problem," he said courteously, "and what type of apples would you like?" He handed the oranges and other vegetables to Wes.

"Macintosh are fine," Wes answered grinning, carefully taking the other items from the clerk. The elderly man turned back to the shelves behind him and gathered a bag of twelve apples. 

"Here you go," he said passing the apples to Jen. "How about an extra apple, on the house, a Golden Delicious?"

"Thanks Mac," Wes said paying the man and taking the apple. He wiped it on his sleeve and tossed it gently to Jen as they turned and walked away. 

"Are you sure that we should have taken it?" Jen asked adjusting the packages in her hands. The rain was still pounding down on their umbrella as they made their way back to the familiar clock tower.

"Yeah, it's nothing. Mac always gives an apple out to pretty girls when they come around to his stand. He's been like that for years."

Jen didn't know whether or not to blush or give back an angry retort. She still hadn't come to a decision however because she was interrupted by the sound of a crying child.

The two of them looked to where the sound came from and saw a middle-aged woman carrying her young daughter along the path trying to shield her from the rain. The child was no more than a year old and she and the mother were soaking wet. 

"Shush baby," the mother said walking along trying to console the wet girl, "It's okay Kiara, we're almost home."

Wes and Jen looked at each other and nodded.

"Excuse me, miss?" Jen asked as the two of then walked up to them. She couldn't help but notice the worn look of their clothes and the frail look that they both had, as if they were accustomed to the harder life of the year 2001. They both looked like small reeds small and thin and alone in a field of indifferent grass, in spirit anyway, as if they were only one gust of wind away from breaking completely. 

"Yes?" the woman answered suspiciously, as though they were trying to steal from her. 

"Here," Wes said handing the umbrella to her by the handle, "We don't need this as much as you do," the woman slowly took the gift from him and smiled.

"Thank you son, that was a very kind thing that you did." she boosted her daughter in her arms and backed away from them. "Bless you," 

"You're welcome." Jen answered for the both of them and the two groups parted.

"She seemed to really appreciate the umbrella didn't she 'son'?" Jen said trying to block the rain from falling on her face.

"Yeah," Wes said taking off his sweater and draping it over Jen. "She'll appreciate it even more when she finds the fifty wrapped around the handle."

Jen gasped then exhaled in half exasperation-half admiration. "You really know how to make someone's day a little brighter don't you?"

"I try my best," He shrugged as if it weren't a big deal, "Now don't let on that I'm not always grouchy and trying to bite other peoples heads off, it'll ruin my newly acquired reputation as Mr. Forlorn-and-Always-Moody." 

"You know about that?" Jen asked looking up at him faintly embarrassed about what he had said.

"I'm not as deaf as you think I am," Wes said, then obviously not wanting to push the matter they continued their trek to the pizza parlour in silence. The only noises made were the sound of the rain falling and their quiet footsteps on the pavement.

*~*

Meanwhile in the Time Force Prison that served as Ransik's headquarters an evil plan was in the making.

"Daddy," a high pitched voice called out, echoing in the dreary place, "why do we have to wait before we attack the rangers again?" Nadira asked, pouting angrily.

"We want to lead them into a false sense of security so that they will let their guard down before we unleash our secret weapon," Frax explained to the pink-haired girl.

"We have to wait until our secret shipment arrives from our allies in the future darling." Ransik said laughing evilly, "According to our last transmission they have just sent it and it should be finding it's way to us any day now."

"What is he sending back Daddy? And what do you mean 'it'll find it's way to us'? You still haven't told me yet!" she complained, "I want to know now!"

"They've sent us the most dangerous mutant that Time Force had ever faced! The rangers won't stand a chance against his superior powers!" Ransik said with a maniacal laugh. "The mutant is called Psykincon, he can emit special waves of psychic energy to control humans and use them to his advantage. He can also enter human dreams and change them to his liking. We are going to use them to get the Red Ranger onto our side; the Red Ranger will destroy his friends for us!

"In fact, if I am not mistaken I do believe that Psykincon has been altering our dear Red Ranger's dreams for the last while and he is almost ready for Psykincon's brain control!" 

The three of them laughed evilly before returning to their devilish planning.

*~*

"Wes, what are you going to do when all of the mutants are captured and Ransik is back in prison?" Jen asked quietly as they continued towards the pizza parlour. They were still making their way back through the City Park, the rain had stopped and Wes had the bags of food around his elbow. To tell the truth Jen was kind of sad that the rain had stopped because now she didn't have any excuse to stand close to Wes. Coincidentally, Wes was wishing that the heavens would just open up again and soak the entire city. 

They hadn't said much since they met the woman they gave their umbrella to. The silence was unbearable and Jen couldn't stand the withdrawn and tired look on Wes' face.

"I don't know," Wes answered with an unreadable expression on his shadowed face, "I'll probably end up joining dad's company or joining the Silver Guardians along with Eric, Dad's already made me the offer, I'll just see if it still stands."

"But Wes, you can't do that!" Jen exclaimed surprised. "You said that you'd never work for you Dad's Biolab! Whatever happened to choosing your own destiny?" 

"Things have changed, they aren't what they were anymore,"

"How could they change in such a short time Wes?" Jen asked and the couple stopped walking. They were staring into each other's eyes trying to see what they were each hiding.

Jen was puzzled and confused and the two expressions showed clearly on her face and her eyes held a concern that Wes had never seen he show before. 

Wes looked at her with the same unreadable expression on his face. His eyes were filled with a deep sadness and something else that Jen couldn't see. 

"It doesn't usually matter how long or short a time it is, what matters is how quickly the people adapt to the problem or setback."

"Jen, let me show you something," Wes said. Taking her hand in his own, Wes pulled her along the road of the park, then taking a quick detour they branched off of the main path and onto an unmarked dirt trail.

"Where are we going?" Jen asked her eyes full of curiosity.

"Don't worry, you'll see soon enough," Wes looked down at her.

Whenever he saw her he saw a vision of strength and not to mention an indescribable beauty from both inside and out. He didn't even want to think about when she had to leave, and the others too, but Jen especially. He wanted to open his heart to her but she had Alex to get back to and he didn't want to, no, he _couldn't, _interfere with the flow of time.

Today was going to be a little different though, today Wes was going to tell Jen something he had been keeping secret for a while now. Wes was going to tell her about his dream, his nightmare, the reason he hadn't been sleeping of late. It wasn't exactly the same as telling her his feelings about her but it was still something he had to get off his shoulders, or face never getting another peaceful night's sleep ever again. Anyway, he'd have to tell the others sometime, he might as well start with their leader. 

They were only walking for a little while before they came to the edge of a rocky cliff, it was hidden within the deep forest and was fairly high up. The cliff overlooked a small stream that was surrounded by tall pine trees. It was an extremely picturesque scene, like something directly from a movie set. Wes led her to the edge of the cliff and together they sat down with their legs dangling over the ledge.

"Jen, there's something that I want to tell you, I haven't said this to anyone else and I think that it's time, otherwise... it's liable to cause big problems later." He paused for a moment, searching for the right words to begin with while Jen looked at him curiously and to some extent, confused.

"In the recent past I've had unsettling dreams about this place, as well as the rest of the city. They started about two weeks ago, first coming very foggy, like they were from far away, they were like badly developed photos. Lately though, they have been becoming clearer and clearer. They used to only last for a few seconds but now it seems that I can't get to sleep without the visions overcoming my mind. It is almost unnatural and overwhelming. This dream keeps me awake and I can't seem to stop thinking about it, even when I'm working, or fighting. 

"In my dream I am alone and I am surrounded by darkness, but it's weird because it is as if I am looking at things from someone else's perspective, not my own. I can see Ransik, Nadira and Frax and they're standing with two figures, but I can't make out anything discriminating to find out they're identities. Ransik and Frax are holding the morphers out mockingly and have the Mega-Zords under their command. 

"I, or whoever I am supposed to be, run back to the clock tower and see a large black cloud circling in the sky, the cloud is giving off an evil power and it soon envelops the entire city. You and the others are nowhere to be found. Suddenly a dark figure falls from the cloud and lands in front of me. The figure is a dark shape that is made of shadows and laughs evilly in my face. It waves its arms in the air and the whole city bursts into black flame and I am the only one left. 

"I see this place again and it is burnt beyond recognition, then I see flashes of the city, Bio-lab, the park and the clock tower all of them are in flames, the air is rapidly being contaminated with dark power.

"Then I am suddenly am on the beach and the Time Ship is parked nearby. You and the others are there, all of you are lying on the ground, beaten by… the enemy, you're all…" 

Wes stops there unable to continue, Jen looked at him with an ashen face but he doesn't look over to her, being too caught up in the horrifying vision to break free. It was as if weren't awake, but instead reliving the gruesome scene over again in his conscious mind. 

"But that's not even the worst part… three other figures step out from behind the ship, the first of them is my father. He looks like he is badly hurt and nursing his arm. He looks at me and says, 'I have no son.' Then, in excruciating pain, he falls to the ground and vanishes.

"The next figure is Eric, he's badly battered from the battle and slowly raises up his arm. He shows a bare wrist, the Quantum Morpher is gone, stolen by Ransik. He yells at me too calling, 'you betrayed everyone in this town, including those you were sworn to protect. What gave you the right rich-boy?' Then he falls down as my father did, and disappears without even a moan. Of course," Wes said, with the beginnings of a smile as he paused from the retelling of his nightmare, "of course, Eric would be too proud to complain about his injuries anyway." He closed his eyes, sadly savouring every painful moment he was reliving yet again, as if he deserved it. After opening his eyes, he waited a second's pause then picked up where he'd left off.

"The last person wasn't hurt at all, he only walked up to me and said 'I knew that you shouldn't have been given this responsibility! You've destroyed the future and allowed the world to become enveloped in evil! You've betrayed your friends and comrades and delivered them directly to the enemy! Your destiny was foreseen to bring great things; but instead it brought sadness, destruction, and chaos. The our world is gone… forever.' Then he turns and walks away, fading into the smoke after only a few steps, leaving me alone with an empty and shattered city-that-was."

Wes stopped talking and finally looked at Jen, there were tears in his eyes and she wasn't surprised at his next words, "The last figure… it was Alex."

"Wes, how can what you say even be true? It was just a dream and only a dream," Jen asked holding his hand tightly, "You have nothing to worry about."

"Jen have you ever had the feeling that you knew something bad was coming? For the past week I've felt that an enemy was just going to knock on the door of the clock tower and attack us! You've noticed how I've been acting, heck, even the others have – to some degree! I haven't been getting any sleep because every time that I lay my head down I see the city burning! Burning! If Ransik attacks again I'll probably fall asleep at his feet! This dream is saying that I'll betray you and the others that I'll lead you to your graves for crying out loud! I can't let it happen! I just can't have you…"

"Wes…" Jen started but then stopped and watched him as he jumped up from the ground and leaned against a tree a few feet away, his face was turned away from Jen. 

"I couldn't live with myself knowing that I led the whole city into darkness, even the world for all I know. I couldn't live with knowing that I killed the entire future's chance at happiness. I couldn't live with the fact that I let you all down."

"Wes, you could never let us down!" Jen said, riled that Wes would even say such a thing. "We trust you, you're our friend, while we stand together, nothing can ever defeat us!"

"How can you be so sure?" Wes asked looking at Jen who was standing next to him. "How can you say that after all of the things that you have been through?"

"Just call it a feeling, there are, in some parts of this deranged world we live in, things called miracles and happy endings." Jen said and smiled reassuringly at him. Wes didn't notice because he was turned away, shadow covered his face, but it didn't hide the worry that was enveloping his features. 

*~*

At the Time Force Prison Ransik was growing restless, only a few minutes away from throwing furniture and expensive 31st century computer equipment around the small interior. 

"Where is that blasted mutant?" He screamed, sending Gluto and Frax cowering in the corner.

"I don't know master," Frax started, "He was supposed to have been here…"

"I don't care WHEN he was SUPPOSED to be here I just want him here, NOW!" 

"Oh Daddy!" Nadira trilled as she bounced into the room, "I think there's someone here you've been waiting for!"

The side door slid open and out stepped a mutant, as soon as the door was open those inside the room shivered. The new arrival reeked of evil and everyone could sense the darkness that covered him like a cloak. He was black and dark grey, and looked like he was made of a mass of ever-moving shadows. He didn't say anything to the others but instead walked straight up to Ransik. He bowed low and said, 

"Master, soldier Psykincon at your service." 

End of Chapter 3

Duh-duh-Dah…

Cool cliff-hanger eh?


	5. Under Control Or Out Of?

This is chapter four mes amis, I guess my cry fir help went unnoticed so I'll be going everything my way nad hoping that I don't get any flames from readers. Thanks once again to my few reviewers and I encourage anyone to speak their mind concerning my precious fic, or if you just want to talk about extremely buff Quantum rangers, hey I'm up for that too.

Disclaimer – I own nothing. I do not own anything except the clothes on my back and the fingers that type out this story.

****

Chapter 4

__

Under Control or Out of?

Wes and Jen headed back from the cliff soon after Wes had finished talking; they made their way to the pizza shop and picked up the order that Lucas or Katie had called in. On their way they made small talk, about the most recent odd jobs, if they needed advertising, the weather, things that didn't bring up the subject of Wes' dream. The mood was light, but there was tension between the two of them. Jen knew he was still worried. The fact he wouldn't say anything about it was making her frustrated.

About a block away from the clock tower Jen stopped dead in her tracks.

"Wes, this is crazy you can't worry about a dream that you had! I've had plenty of them myself but I don't think that the world is going to end! Please, Wes, stop acting like this!" 

Wes stopped and turned to look at the almost frantic pink ranger. He said nothing for a moment. He only stared at her, the look in his eyes chilled her, it said, 'If only you knew,' He turned back around.

"Jen, I'd appreciate if you didn't tell the others what we were talking about this afternoon. Katie, Lucas and Trip will probably react even worse than you did, and I don't need, don't want," Wes said, clarifying himself, "them to worry about me. Or at least not anymore than they are now. Trust me, it'll be better this way."

"Wes, of course I trust you but you can't stay like this." Jen called walking up behind him.

"You have to listen to me," Wes held her shoulders turning to face her once more, his face looked almost angry and the tone of his voice made Jen quail slightly but she held her ground.

"No. Wes, you listen to me, what… what if you're right?" Jen stood up to him; she spoke softly and soon the angry look dissolved from Wes' face as he calmed down. However, Jen did not stop, "If you do… turn against us… what would happen if the other didn't know? How much more pain could you cause them, how much more destruction would there be if the others didn't know what was going on?" Jen's voice had almost started to tremble as she thought but she stayed as confident as she could as she spoke. 'Wes shouldn't even have to think that he could ever disappoint us, he would never turn against us. Never. Never willingly, we're his friends.'

"What they don't know can't hurt them," Wes said still holding Jen's shoulders, "Wait, you believe me? Don't you?"

"I believe your dream is telling you something evil is coming. That's where the feeling of foreboding is coming from Wes," Jen began to say almost startled, "I just can't get around the fact that you'd ever hurt the others, or me. I can't stand to see you torn like this,"

"It hurts me too, it probably hurts me a heck of a lot more than you." He said ruefully. "We had better get to the clock tower, this pizza's getting cold and the others are probably starving." Wes smiled slowly, but the look didn't reach his eyes. 'Jen believes in me. I just can't tell her why that is so important to me. I'll have to hope that my dream is just that, a dream and that maybe the foreboding thing is just imagined.' 

Jen smiled and nodded automatically, agreeing with Wes' last statement, but her mind was occupied elsewhere. Was it her paranoia, or did his mood seem to lift when she said she believed in him? I wish he would stop thinking like this, she thought to herself as she let him lead her across the street. He could never betray us, after all that we've been through together, why can't he see that?

*~*

Back inside the clock tower there was a mad shuffle going on around the balcony, Lucas had a 21st century pair of binoculars around his neck and had them trained out the window trying to see the missing pair.

"What are they doing now Lucas?" Katie asked, "I want to see!" 

"Wait a minute Katie, they've started walking again, they're on their way here!"

"Oh no!" exclaimed Katie.

Trip was, for once, the voice of reason, "We'd better get out of the window then," Trip said, and then, in a state of disorder, they pushed themselves out of the huddle they were in.

Lucas ran his fingers through his hair "Ok, does everyone know what they're supposed to be doing? Katie, you're watching a movie and are sprawled on the couch."

"Right, I know, I know," Katie said laughing and threw herself into the pillows, "I think I like this kind of match-making," she popped an already half-through movie into the VCR.

"Trip, you're putting some gadget together in the loft with Circuit," Lucas looked over to the green-haired teen, "What was it again?"

"Voice-recognition digital processing code, it has a treble reading of…"

"Um… that's okay Trip, you can fill me in later, just get going," Trip and Circuit moved into their positions.

Lucas headed downstairs; he was to be at front desk when they came in. He thought to himself smugly as he came down the stairs, 'Today went fairly well, I guess, from the way that they looked coming back. We'll just have to wait and see, but that should be all the prodding that they'll need, for now anyway.'

*~*

"Hi guys, did you get everything we needed?" Lucas asked as the two rangers entered the clock tower.

"Think so, apples, oranges, carrots, lettuce and celery. And of course, the pizza." Jen replied, setting the groceries down on the front desk.

"Did I hear someone say 'pizza'?" Katie called from upstairs.

"It's coming!" Jen yelled back, "Lucas take this upstairs and get it warmed up would you?"

"Sure, so long as I get first pick."

"You can fight with Trip then." Jen laughed and Lucas scurried quietly upstairs.

"Let's get these vegetables put away Wes, Wes?" looking around Jen couldn't see Wes anywhere.

'Where did he disappear to so quickly?' Jen shrugged it off, picked up the bags once again and started up the stairs. 

*~*

Wes had started directly up the stairs as soon as he had entered the clock tower. He hadn't said anything to Lucas or Jen when they had been talking but quietly and stealthily jumped up the stairs.

"Did I hear someone say 'pizza'?" Katie yelled from the landing above his head. Wes cringed inwardly at the loud noise but continued on his way.

"It's coming!" he heard Jen call back to her. Clearing the steps he ignored Trip and Katie's stares and walked over to the window. He saw Lucas behind him out of the corner of his eye but he didn't say anything to him either.

He had a lot of things to sort out. Things he should have told the others about before. 

'I get the feeling this is going to turn nasty. And this sense of trepidation isn't going to help me get anything sorted out.' he sighed and climbed out the window. He perched a top the roof, thinking about his dream. 

'All of this up in a blaze of uncontrollable flames.' He thought looking sadly down at the place he had called his home for so many years. 'What is my dream telling me? Is it some sort of sign, a foretelling of what will come to be? Or some unrecognisable symbol that I won't figure out until it's too late? As always…' He plopped down to sit on the tiled roof, one leg over the edge and just sat there. Listening to the sounds below, above and around him. Taking in all of the sounds he had grown to ignore. He heard the sound of the rush hour traffic, the cars full of men and women anxious to get home to their loved ones. All those families who had no idea of all the different evils that there are in the world. He heard the slowly declining wind, the only remnant, other than the puddles, of the rain they had experienced earlier in the day and the muffled sounds coming from the clock tower as his friends got the pizza ready for their late supper.

'What would my life be like if I had never become a ranger? What if my DNA hadn't matched Alex's? Would my life be any simpler? Could I have changed this somehow?' he remembered something he had read in some book at one point in his life, "No matter how hard you try to cheat fate, there are some things you can't escape by avoiding them. Life may be made of choices but there are some choices are already made for you."

'Nah, I wouldn't have gotten out of anything.' he berated silently, continuing to think to himself, 'Will I ever be able to have a normal life? Or as normal as a kid of a millionaire can have. _Normal? _What is normal anymore? Before all of this my definition of 'normal' was sitting at home watching the news and going to meetings with dad breathing down my neck. Now my normal day consists of rescuing the city with the help of my friends, morphing technology from the year 3000 and a robotic flying owl.' Wes let his thoughts drift as they may. 'My old best friend who hates my guts is back in town and helps my teammates with his giant metal dinosaur and our huge humanoid vehicle things! Life couldn't get any more normal! How much longer do I have to put up with all this insanity? How much longer….?' 

He lay back onto the roof and watched as the sky turned from a light blue to a darker purple. Near the end of his field of vision he could see all the different colors that made up the rainbow of a sunset. The pinks and oranges swirled and glowed brightly in the last remaining minutes the sun would have control over the heavens. 

Wes watched silently as the first twilight stars appeared, hidden by day by the glow of the sun. Above his head and seemed to sing and dance eternally watching over the earth. Their small pinpricks of light shining above his head, they were something familiar to him, and they would always be there.

"Until they fall," he whispered out loud. The simple sentence was referring to more than just the stars and it disturbed him. 

"Until they fall…."

*~*

"Where's Wes?" Jen asked as she cleared the stairs with the groceries in her hands. "He just disappeared."

"He's out on the roof." Lucas said, "Do you want me to go and get him?" he asked as he swallowed a piece of pizza. "He's gonna miss all the food."

"No," Jen replied quickly, "I'll go get him."

"Alright, hurry back," Lucas said.

"Save me some pizza." she directed and walked over to where the window overlooked the city.

"Uh-huh," came a reply, though it was from a mouth full of pizza and she couldn't be sure who had said it.

"Wes?" 

"Wha?" Came the reply.

"Are you going to come in for supper?" she asked leaning over to where she heard his voice. It sounded as if he were laying down. "Trip and them are gonna save you some pizza, but if you don't get in here they'll fight over it themselves."

"That's ok, I'm not hungry anyway, they can split my share." he sounded distracted, Jen thought. She rested her arms on the ledge and looked up at the stars.

"Is there anything wrong Wes? You know you can always talk to us." 

"I'm just fine." replied Wes, he yawned, "I'm just a bit tired, nothing I can't handle."

"Ok then, don't stay out there too long, you'll fall asleep and we don't want you too fall off the roof." she meant it as a joke but she didn't hear any laugh coming from the darkened roof.

"Wes? … Wes?" she strained to see where he had gone but the lessening light prohibited her from seeing far. She heard a soft noise coming from a few feet over. The sound of quiet steady breathing was heard in the twilight. Wes had fallen asleep out on the roof of the clock tower.

Jen sighed and took a blanket off the bed closest to her, she thought it was Lucas' but she knew Wes would wake long before the rest of them even thought about sleeping. She climbed out the window and draped it across his prone body. 

"Sweet dreams Wes," she murmured and jumped back into the clock tower. 'I think this is the first time that I've said that and actually meant it.' she thought sadly, grabbing a slice of pizza and scarfing it down. 'I just hope he is a light sleeper. I don't want Red Ranger pancakes for breakfast.'

End of Chapter 4

A/N Kinda lame I know but I was kinda desperate. Wouldn't it suck to fall off the roof of the tower while you were sleeping though?

(ponders….)

Satori


	6. Beware the Dark Crystal

This is a short chapter, for me I guess anyway and in my opinion one of the best I've written so far. I'd like to post a big thank you to cmar, my most dedicated-like reviewer type person who pointed out that I need to spend more time proof-reading my chapters.

Thanks cmar!

To continue, as usual I own nothing of the Power Rangers or the characters except Psykincon and a special little character whose coming into the next chapter, and I'll bet you'll never guess who she is!

(Insert evil laugh here)

Review please, I like feedback! 

Note – 'thinking'

__

Italics - dreaming

****

Chapter 5

__

Beware the Dark Crystal

Wes dreamt out on the roof of the clock tower. He tossed and turned. His dreams were wrong. They disturbed him. He wanted to wake up and escape from their clutches but something was keeping a hold on him. 

He couldn't wake up. 

He was trapped, in his own mind. 

Without opening his mouth, without saying a word, he screamed.

__

"Let me out, whoever you are! Let go of me." Wes cried out in a panic. He couldn't move. His arms and legs were bound together and tied to something he couldn't see. The room, or whatever it was, was completely dark. There were no windows or lights of any description. He listened, but the only thing that reached his ears was the sound of his own frightened, gasping breath. 

"Let me out of here!" The darkness surrounding him brightened, if only slightly. He was in a large room, it looked old. Very old. There were dark pillars holding up what must have been the roof. He couldn't see that far up. There was a sort of smoke floating near the floor, obscuring whatever might be there. Formless, indistinct statues were spaced randomly throughout the room. Even though he couldn't see them well, he knew they were hideous, ugly and repulsive. The most disturbing thing to Wes however, was that his surroundings looked completely unfamiliar. He yelled again.

"Is anyone there? Let me go!" 

A dark shadow loomed over him. He heard the raspy breath of something much bigger than he was. It also felt evil, and dark. He trembled involuntarily. Wes looked up. He stared into the dark eyes of a shadowed figure. Shadowed, for in fact the entire thing was made of shadows. It looked alarmingly familiar to Wes.

"So we meet again. Do you not recognise me Red Ranger?" The monstrosity asked. He was smirking, Wes thought, though he could not see an actual mouth on the thing. 

"You're the creature from my nightmare." Wes spat, trying to sound brave. "Why are you here? Why have you brought me here?" he demanded.

"Pitiful Ranger, you are in no position to ask questions. I am Psykincon, faithful servant of Master Ransik. You are powerless here."

"Where are we?" Wes asked. Glancing around he saw, to his dismay that the light was fading from his surroundings. 'Why is it getting dark again?'

"We are in the Nightmare Realm." Psykincon gloated; sounding ultimately pleased at something Wes couldn't fathom. "MY _realm, I have all the power here. Anything I wish to be- comes to be at my command." he paused for a moment as if thinking or waiting for something. "Ah ha, I can sense it."_

"Sense what?" Wes probed trying to get a straight answer out of him.

"Your fear. This realm eliminates any positive feeling but amplifies any negative feelings you hold within your soul. That is what I sense, I can feel your distrust, rage, and your fear. You can hide nothing from me, you are hopeless. A Hopeless Ranger truly you are, for I can feel your sadness and your realisation that you will never be free again!" 

Wes fell back, he stopped straining against his constraints and stared back at the mutant. 'He's right,' he thought sadly and downheartedly, 'I can't escape, I can't get out of here. There's no way I'll ever see my friends again.' His body trembled and he felt weak. He was unaware that the negative power contained within this realm was already starting to affect him. He didn't see the eerie, cold, blue glow that was coming from Psykincon's eyes. 

"What do you want with me?" he asked his body slumped to the ground, his bindings were gone. He didn't try to run away instead he looked up to the towering monster, eyes vacant of any light or life of their own.

"You will join us, Ranger." he said in a hypnotic tone, he stepped closer to the fallen ranger. "You can't do anything, you are weak and powerless. Your fears overwhelm you. Your friends have left you and you have come here. You will join us." 

"My friends wouldn't desert me…" Wes said, still holding on to a slim amount of hope.

"Oh, but they have Red Ranger, you are here are you not?" Psykincon replied circling around Wes, causing the smoke to revolve around Wes as well.

"But they are my friends…" he said. Staring forward he couldn't see the unnatural shade the mutant's eye were glowing. Then the dark, blue light started to move closer to the fallen ranger. The light was a by-product of the nightmare realm so it was under Psykincon's control; the light was actually the amplified remaining negative feelings from the many others who had been taken here. The only memory of them was the evil light that helped to taint more and more innocent people's heart and souls to corrupt them, and change them in to evil dark beings.

"You have no choice Ranger, you will join us." 

"I will… join you." Wes intoned slowly. He looked up to Psykincon. His eyes held light again, but it was a possessed, icy blue glow, identical to the smouldering colour in the mutant's eyes, the same glow that had circled around him, frozen his heart, poisoned his soul and ensnared his mind. 

"You will swear your allegiance to Ransik. You will fight for evil, you ARE evil."

"I am… evil, Ransik is… my only master." He repeated.

"You will use the powers of the Red Knight. Your fire will be black. You will be a Dark Knight from now on!" The mutant held his hand down to Wes, in his palm was a black crystal. "Take this crystal and release your true self to the evil you hold deep within your being! Release the evil that you have buried deep within you and harness it to complete your purpose!"

"I will become… the Dark Knight." he murmured. He slowly reached up towards the dark crystal. "My… true self will become… evil." His hand met the crystal and a dark power exploded from inside, replacing the blue glow. The dark evil energy made the blue light seem friendly, because the energy was pure and total evil. The power had been contained in a negative crystal for thousands of years, keeping it raw and pure. Quickly the light engulfed the human. 

When the energy shell died away he was wearing armour similar to the Red Knight's except that where the Red Knight's was red with gold this one was black with silver trimmings. He took the helmet off to examine it and them tucked it under his arm. He looked up to face Psykincon, his once clear, blue-green eyes were now black never-ending tunnels, filled only with the desire to watch goodness and innocence die and evil reign.

The dark crystal itself was embedded in the chest-plate of his armour, still pulsating with the dark power, coursing the energy throughout his body, fortifying and strengthening him.

Wes, or what he had become, stood up from the floor slowly, revelling in his new power. He examined the rest of his new armour and looked, satisfied, at the alterations. He then put his hand to his back and found a sword hilt held in a long black leather sheath. He pulled it out and glanced into the polished silver. He smiled evilly. His eyes shone in the cold blue colour once more, showing Psykincon was still in control of what Wes had become.

"You will destroy the Rangers." Psykincon commanded.

"I will… destroy them," Wes replied and swung his sword at an invisible foe. "I will KILL _the Rangers!" he cried. The mutant laughed._

"Master," he said into a communicator hidden in his wrist, "he is ready."

"Good," a sinister voice crackled from the other end of the communications device. "Wake him up and direct him mentally. Ensure that he finishes the job properly."

"It will be as you command Master." Psykincon replied. He looked over to the Dark Knight who was standing a few feet away from the mutant. He stared off into space with no expression on his face. The look of a trained samurai or high-ranking officer. Or of someone with no feelings, no regret, no soul.

"Knight, you will awaken, you will complete your task in the name of Master Ransik!"

"Of course." Wes, the Knight, bowed low and then, in a great burst of light…

Wes awoke. Or rather, the body of Wes awoke, for the mind was not his. Any semblance left of the mind of Wesley Collins was pushed far beneath the surface of his consciousness, leaving only the whipped persona of the evil creature that Psykincon had created. The dark crystal changed his calm, compassionate mentality and turned it black hearted and evil. He was, in fact, the Dark Knight. He stood up, overlooking the city. He looked down at his body and recoiled at what he saw. 

'Where is my armour?' he thought, only minimally disturbed. He put his hand in his pocket and felt the reassuring black power of the dark crystal. He grinned in amusement. 'I must hide my true identity for now… I understand. I will do as my master has commanded. First I will infiltrate their defences. Then I will wait for the right time to strike.' 

End of Chapter 5

A/N – Cool eh? Well, I liked it. Tell me what you think, oh, and anyone know what Wes' father's name is? I need it for the next chapter.

Thanks!

Satori


	7. Overture

Hey all you'se happy people, Satori here with another edition of Rain. ANYway, to continue on…

Disclaimer- NOT MINE, too bad though, it would have been so much fun…

Shout-outs- hehe, this is cool, I actually have people to shout out to! Well, one person so far… Special thanks go to cmar, for continuing to help me when I need it, which is often and for nitpicking and spotting things that my blonde self would fail to notice otherwise. 

Thank you, cmar!

And on with the fic!

Satori Blackthorn

*~*

**__**

Chapter 6

Overture

Trip stirred in his sleeping bag, the morning light shining brightly in his face. He had been in the middle of a dream. Or rather, for him, a vision. He hadn't clearly understood what it was that his Xybrian mind was trying to tell him, but he got the impression that it wasn't good.

Something's coming, he prophesised as he rolled out of bed, barely missing the still asleep Lucas. Something that we're probably not going to like. 

He looked around the silent loft. It seemed that everyone else was still sleeping, even Jen, and she looked like she was going to be out of it for awhile yet. He couldn't see Wes - he probably spent the entire night out on the roof, with Jen watching to ensure that he didn't roll off - explaining why their esteemed squad leader was still dead to the world.

As he stretched he thought back to his dream, it had something to do with a dark jewel, a crystal of immense evil power, but he'd never heard tell of anything of the sort before. Only in old, historic comics and recreated television shows were there 'power stones' of that description, however their had been Rangers in the past that had to deal with stones of similar powers… maybe…

Trip shook his head, causing his green hair to fall in front of his eyes; the dream would come to pass in one way or another. And it would come when it was it's time to. He only wished he had been able to see further into it.

'I hope that I can figure it out before it's too late.' 

He yawned and then, shaking off the last memories of the vision, he pulled on a T-shirt and headed down to the common area for something to eat.

*~* 

Unbeknownst to Trip, however, not everyone was sleeping peacefully, scant feet away from where Trip had just woken up from, Lucas lay on his back – wide awake and thinking.

'The plan is going perfectly. Everything is right on schedule, then why is it that I feel I'm missing something important?' He slowly turned over onto his side. 'Jen and Wes clearly were up to _something _from the way they were pussyfooting around last night. That's good. They must have got to talking about something they don't want us to know about, whether they talked about their feelings or something else, it doesn't matter. The added 'conspiracy factor' between them will force them to spend more time together, they have to make sure we don't find about It after all. Now, all I have to do is find out what It is. Hmm…'

Lucas had been at the matchmaking business long enough to know exactly what he was doing. He had, after all, initiated the first casual meeting between Jen and Alex and that had went well. 

'Or as well as it could have gone.' He thought sarcastically, 'You know, with him dying and then us finding out that he's obviously a relative of Wes and then the whole him 'coming back to life' bit a few weeks ago. It didn't really add to my list of great accomplishments. At least we don't know who Alex's great-great grandmother is… yet… that could also turn out to be awkward for everyone… hmm, I wonder…" 

His initial train of thought derailed, he thought back to all of the successes he'd had at matching up people. His mother and father for one. After their divorce when he was just a kid, Lucas had worked non-stop at pushing them back together. In the beginning he hadn't been as… discreet as he had learned to be now. Far from it.

'What a brat I was. But it worked in the end.'

He'd also been successful in mending the rift between Katie and her sister, and while that might not count as 'matchmaking' it had taken him a whole five months to get them to talk to each other again. It had also taken a considerable amount of work to actually find out what exactly they had been fighting about. Getting them back on speaking terms had been interesting, if not painful, as neither of them knew that their mother had put him up to it. 

'Strength must run in the family,' he thought absentmindedly as he rubbed his shoulder where their punches had landed, one after the other, in perfect succession, hard. It had taken months for the bruise to go away – and for Katie and Jasmine to look at him again.

In the end it had been worth it and later the two of them had thanked him, and good thing they _had_ forgiven him, or else he would have never met _her_.

'I miss you Kana.' Lucas thought sadly, picturing her beautiful face in his mind. 

Though he would never admit it to anyone, except maybe Kana herself someday, Lucas wasn't the big 'Lady's man' they all envisioned him to be, in fact he was just the opposite. There would only be one woman for him, though she might not know it yet, and that was the way it was going to stay.

'For awhile anyway, no need in telling everyone while I'm stuck in the past is there?'

He closed his eyes and thought back blissfully to the day he had first lay eyes on her. It had been a huge race for him, one of the most important of his life. He was suited up and waiting for the other cars to pull up to the starting line. Then _she_ appeared. She had been wearing a dark navy streamlined suit with her caramel coloured hair pulled back into a tight ponytail at the base of her neck. Her eyes were focused on the track in front of her and hadn't seen Lucas staring at her.

'Probably a good thing,' he shook his head ruefully, 'as I was practically drooling on my steering wheel.' He chuckled inwardly, 'that race was over from the moment I laid eyes on her, there was no way in Hades I could have focused on the race after that… The Boss-man wasn't too pleased.'

Lucas had missed the starting flag by about four seconds, a horrible start time for him, and the race had plummeted from there. He'd lost time off all his turns and almost clipped another driver and not to mention the fact that he almost had to eject because he tried to drive through a wall of flame. A result of someone else not paying attention to the track, just like Lucas has been.

'It wasn't that bad, just very, very hot…' Lucas had never been good around flames ever since that incident.

Nevertheless, he had finished, last, and the woman he soon would know as Kana finished third. A very respectable time, especially in a race where you were racing around a hundred other racers. 

'Last isn't that bad, better than the guys I knocked of the track while my mind was on Kana.'

He had to face the Boss-man later and after an hour of trying to convince him not to fire him on the spot, he managed to stay in his team. 

'Arguing with him was about as fun as fighting Contemptra.' 

He shuddered.

But it had all been worth it in the end. 

The next day he had met Katie at the track for a lunch before he was supposed to be practising when Kana had walked into the café. When Katie had tried to ask him why he was slouching so far down in his seat all she got for an answer was a strangled 'eep.' Quickly piecing two and two together she managed to figure out why he had lost the race yesterday and why he had been acting so 'out of it' –as she so delicately put it.

__

"You like her…" Katie had whispered. 

Another choked 'eep'.

"Do you want to meet her?"

"Well yeah, but she's so gorgeous, why'd she want to be seen with a arrogant son of a bitch like me?"

"You really think that?"

"That's what everyone else thinks, why shouldn't she?"

"Hey, Kana! Over here!"

"You know her?" Lucas said accusingly, sitting bolt upright in his seat. "Why didn't you just tell me that?"

"You never asked." Katie replied innocently. "Kana and I have worked at the Time Force Carnival together for the past eight years!"

"Kana, come sit with us!"

Kana turned around at hearing her name and blushed lightly at the sudden outburst that had caused the entire café to regard her strangely.

"Sure Katie," she picked up her lunch tray and brought it over to their table after paying the cashier.

"Kana, this is my friend, Lucas Kendall he's one of my squad members. Lucas this is my long-time friend Kana Gardener, she works in the Tech. Weapons Department for Time Force. So… I heard you guys race together, small world ain't it?"

'That was the day I signed off all the favours I had in the world to Katie, I'll owe her till the day I die.' Lucas thought dreamily.

He shook himself out of his happy reverie and focused on the present, or rather the past, depending on how you looked at it. Before he could get off-track with another unrelated theme he focused on the task at hand.

'This,' he thought vehemently, '_this_ will be my greatest challenge. How to get two people to confess their undying love when one of them in engaged and has to go back to the future after all the bad guys are defeated and the other is… Wes? Either there's got to be a lot of vigilance on our part – or caution is going to be thrown to the winds to get all this to work out.'

End of Chapter Six

R&R peoples… please? 


	8. Mental Influence

Once again! With feeling this time!

I do not own Power Rangers!

Sorry that this is late, I kinda had to return to the real world for awhile there, but never fear, Satori is back to the Realm of Insanity to grace you all with her presence! … Sorry. Anyway, I'd like to give a big thanks to Rach who allowed me to play off the storyline she's created for Eric, it's not the same but I can't take credit for all the works that is hers. And, as always, a BIG thanks to cmar who keeps encouraging me, no matter how queer my story sounds! And, to anyone reading, a HUGE thanks to Gionnola who asked me to update!

Satori

Now…. 

**__**

Chapter Seven

Mental Influence

It was early morning, a time when most other people would still be fast asleep and dreaming in warm comfortable beds in their quiet homes in their peaceful, happy neighbourhoods.

Most people, that is, except Eric Myers.

The captain of the Silver Guardians gets no such luxuries, Eric reckoned he hadn't had a good sleep-in day since the time he'd come down with a fever six years ago. And that probably didn't count with most people.

He was used to it though, being seen as an impregnable fortress of sorts. No one could get near him. He didn't need friends and family and all that other emotional baggage to do his job. He was better off on his own. 

A one-man army, that had been his reputation, until now. With the other rangers at least he wouldn't have to worry about watching his back, there would always be at least one of them willing to do that for him. He'd return the favour, but only because he wanted the job done. Not because he actually _cared_ for any of them…

Not Eric.

This morning, as every other morning, Eric was out for his ritualistic jog. Just a short one of course, from his less than stellar rented waste of building materials that he called a house, to the Silver Guardians headquarters, a distance of only twenty blocks- plus the park. He'd run more while he had been in the Marines. 

Today Eric felt the need to burn off some excess energy; he'd been feeling restless because of the lack of attacks on the city and needed to work off his uneasiness. Not having the usual onslaught of mutants to vaporise each week wasn't sitting well with him. He felt something big was coming.

He rounded a corner and found himself two blocks away from the Clock Tower, the very same clock tower where the other rangers had holed up in and decided to call their home. He could see the clock face glinting in the early morning sunlight.

'Probably still sleeping,' he thought sarcastically, 'though I highly doubt that Jen sleeps in on a regular basis.'

He stopped to wipe the moisture from his brow with the crook of his arm; the grey T-shirt he was wearing was damp with sweat also. He felt warm but the cool breeze wafting in from behind him kept him going. 

'What am I doing here?' he asked himself, wondering why he was within seeing distance of the other ranger's home. He wasn't their friend, what was he doing practically standing on their doorstep in the wee hours of the morning?

__

Maybe you want to be their friend? A voice spoke from inside his head.

'Why would I want that? They'd just be excess baggage. Just like those sorry excuses Collins calls Guardians,' He retorted. 'Who asked you anyway? Who are you for another thing?'

__

You did. I am part of you.

'Sure don't sound like me,' Eric commented, noting the voice sounded more feminine than anything else.

__

I am from the Quantum Morpher - I was downloaded into your subconscious when you first put the morpher on. 

'Any particular reason why you're announcing your presence now?'

__

I am here to look after you, that is my directive.

'Yeah, from who?'

__

I am unable to answer that question

'Is it possible a computer program to sound snotty?'

__

Very possible obviously.

'I don't recall asking for your opinion.'

__

Look at yourself Eric, can you honestly say that you're carrying out this conversation because you want to? Are you really so desperate that you are forced to argue with a part of your subconscious?

'Don't be so harsh on yourself,' Eric thought with a mock soothing tone, 'whoever you are, you're not all that bad to talk to. You might lack an appealing personality… but that's not all your fault…'

__

That's not what I meant Eric. The voice continued dryly, sounding exactly like Eric,_ You need more social interaction._

'I've done well up 'til now haven't I? And what do you call work?' he retorted angrily.

__

Eric, you haven't gone out anywhere for years, you haven't called anyone for even longer. And driving back to Silver Guardians HQ in the SUVs doesn't really qualify as interaction, seeing as how you don't talk to them.

'They don't make any move to either...'

__

That's because you scare them away when you growl about the battle you just fought and how you could have done better on your own.

'They're spineless.'

__

They're still human, and can carry on a conversation.

'In my defence, the situations have been less than ideal for social interaction.'

__

Point proven, but the past is in the past, you need to learn to move on.

'You're starting to sound like Wes and his friends with all your psycho-analysis shit.'

__

I'm just an offshoot of yourself, so what does that tell you?

'That I hang out with them too much as it is? And how is that possible if you were downloaded into my brain?'

The voice in Eric's mind was starting to get exasperated at his determination to be stubborn.

__

NO, and just so you know hanging out does not mean helping them to save the world from Ransik and his minions, what it means is that you need to get out more. Try talking to people and not yelling orders at them over the comm. set as the Quantum Ranger. And as sad as it may seem, the longer that I am in your mind the more and more I take after your personality traits.

'You're an awful shit disturber you know that? Who in their right minds would want all this dumped on them so early in the morning?'

__

Who in their right minds jog twenty blocks at 5:30 in the morning?

'I see your starting to take after me already, that I do believe was cynicism.'

__

I learn only from the best.

'Yeah? And who might that be?' Eric thought sarcastically.

__

Just go already!

'It's not even 6:30 in the morning and you expect me to waltz in there and say 'hey any of you up for a game of Frisbee because the voice in my head won't get off my case about actual human contact?''

__

Hmm, you're sense of humour is developing, that's a good sign. At least I won't be a total bore.

'I take it that's a 'no' right?'

It was the voice's turn to be sarcastic.

__

What ever would have given you that idea?

'You know, me just arriving there is going to make them think that the world's gone bonkers.'

__

Maybe it'll be a step in the right direction.

'Maybe, cause the world certainly can't get any crazier.'

__

You'll never know until you try.

'There you go again with that psycho-analysis stuff.'

__

That was actually intended as encouragement.

'Ohhh, it that what it's called, I don't get that often remember?'

__

Forgive me for my forgetfulness.

'You're forgiven."

__

Now quit stalling and get moving!

'Calm yourself down I'm going, don't worry.'

__

One of us has to…

'Shut up.' 

__

One of these days you're going to get your self killed.

'The voice in my head added on a happier note.' That's very sweet of you but at least if that ever happens I won't have to worry about keeping a conversation going with the voice in my head.'

__

You're impossible

'I learn only from the best.' Eric mocked. 'Now shut up, I'm going in already.'

The voice offered no reply. Eric was willing to chalk up the entire dialogue as not ever have happened but shoved the thought off. 

'When this is all over, all the mutants locked up and everything normal again, it's nice to know that I'll be able to submit myself in to a mental ward to finally get some peace and quiet.'

__

I heard that…

Eric laughed under his breath; at least he knew he wasn't totally alone anymore.

End Chapter Seven

Please review, yes Eric sounds insane, but there is a good reason for it….

Just let me think of one…


	9. Ready to Talk

Disclaimer – See previous chapters, or make up your own, follow this guideline

(Satori) does NOT own (Power Rangers) in any way shape or form.

Thanks to my precious little reviewers!

Satori

**__**

Chapter Eight

__

Ready to Talk?

Trip was munching away happily on an over-cooked piece of charcoal, which, a short while ago, had been a piece of toast.

'One of these days we're going to have to get that toaster replaced,' he thought, trying to scrape of the worst of the burnt areas onto his plate. He thought back to when the others had asked him why he didn't just fix it himself. His answer had been ridiculously straightforward…

__

"I don't know a single thing about toasters!"

It had gotten the point across. So, until they remembered to pick one up at the store while they were in buying groceries, they'd have to put up with charcoal toast and extra crispy English muffins. Coupled with the prehistoric coffee maker, which, more often than not, produced water instead of coffee, it was a great way to wake up in the morning.

Finishing his breakfast Trip went to put his dishes in the sink when he heard the bell tinkle from the door opening downstairs.

'Who could that be?' he wondered, making his way to the stairs. He looked at the watch Wes had given him ("Now you might actually be on time for garbage duty once in awhile!") and saw that it was only 6:45, a little early for a customer to show up and want to hire them…

He cleared the bottom of the stairs, jumping the last five as he usually did to nearly run into…

"Eric?" the Xybrian asked confused, "what are you doing here?"

Trip could feel the embarrassment emanating from the Asian man's stocky figure. One of the advantages of being a psychic, and an alien psychic at that, was a sense of empathy. He could feel the emotions that were on the foremost of a person's conscious and subconscious, and at this moment Eric was about as awkward and uncomfortable as they come.

"To tell you the truth Trip, I'm not really sure myself." 

Trip smiled, at the same time probing the aura around Eric to see what else he was feeling, loneliness and a… longing for something.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything…" Eric started, inching back towards the door, "if you're busy I can just leave…" This was the last thing Eric wanted, after he had finally worked up the nerve to come here he at least wanted to converse with someone before he left.

"I'm the only one up, and I'm not doing anything important. You're welcome to stay for awhile and talk."

Eric's eyebrows shot up. "How did you know?"

Trip grinned sheepishly, lifting the fringe of hair that covered his gem, "I'm psychic remember?"

Eric relaxed, though still looked taught around the edges. "Yeah, sorry, I'm remember Wes saying something about that." He looked around the inside of the shop, taking in all the details. "So… Jen's not up yet? I would have never have pegged her as the sleep in type."

Trip snorted, "You got that right. Usually I'm the one sleeping in and Jen the one up in the early morning, but she was up late last night watching Wes. Hey, come on upstairs, we can have 'coffee'."

"That sounds… good," Eric said guardedly. 

Trip laughed at his expression, "We don't have the best coffee-maker in the world," he answered.

"Ah," Eric said in understanding, "can't be any worse than the sad excuse for a perk they have in Silver Guardians HQ."

They made their way up the stairs, quiet trying not to disturb the others from their sleep. Eric's dark eyes captured every detail, envying the sense of warmth that the clock tower radiated. For having been closed down for the past ten years Wes and his friends had done wonders to the ancient place. From the carefully renovated stairway to the salt and pepper shakers (shaped like chickens) on the picnic table that served as a workstation and dining area. The entire place looked like they had been living there for years instead of the few short months, unlike Eric's place. His home was unpersonal as you could get, only having the most bear of essentials, including his furniture and a bed. He only had enough to get by, that was all he needed. 

What Trip had mentioned before came back to Eric.

"Why was Jen watching Wes all night? Is he sick?"

Trip was at a loss for words. Here was Eric, the renegade Quantum Ranger, in their clock tower, talking civilly and actually showing what could be described as concern for another member of the team! 

"Um, no… he just feel asleep outside on the roof and Jen stayed up late to make sure that he didn't fall off or anything in the middle of the night."

"Okaayyy…" Eric said, thinking that over, "That'd explains why Jen isn't up then."

"Yeah," Trip chuckled, "that'd be a pretty good reason. So how are things going with the Silver Guardians?" Trip asked, trying to keep a steady conversation going.

Eric gave him a strange look. "You know I'm probably not supposed to give out information on the inner workings of the Silver Guardians but if I don't tell you you'd probably get it out of me anyway."

Trip shook his head so violently that his green hair flew wildly in all directions.

"I'd never do that! It's not right. Besides, I can't control it all that well yet anyway," he admitted with a sigh.

"I see," Eric said, taking genuine interest in what the alien was talking about. "So what can you do?"

"Well, I can get glimpses of the future, but usually only if it pertains to me or someone I am closely associated with and I have an enhanced sense of empathy."

"Enhanced?" he asked bemused, "does that mean that you're the best at that in the year you come from?"

"No, nothing like that," Trip replied quickly, "I'm barely even half the psychic that some of my people are!"

"How cute," Eric said sarcastically, "the green-haired alien is modest…"

Trip sighed; it wasn't likely that Eric would ever understand how different things were in his time compared to the 21st century.

"No, what I mean is that everyone, including the people from this time, and even before, have some empathic abilities. It doesn't really have anything to do with being psychic, except if you're like me, you just have to be in tune with the things around you."

"I don't understand." Eric said, wanting to learn more. Trip thought there was more to this than just for the sake of an actual conversation with someone, he thought he'd confront Eric and see what he'd say.

"It's kind of similar to a sixth sense, in a way… You can _feel_ things. Like of something is wrong or someone is not being entirely truthful in admitting why they are up at 7:00 in the morning conversing with someone who is supposed to be their 'enemy'."

"I get the point."

"So – why are you here?"

Eric leaned back on one of the posts that riddled the tower as support beams.

"It's kinda complicated and hard to explain…"

"And you think that coming from the year 3000 with a cybernetic owl, an alien with psychic abilities and a woman with super-strength ISN'T hard to explain to the casual observer?" 

Eric seemed to think about that for a second or two.

"Yeah, that'd be kinda difficult wouldn't it?" 

"Only kinda." Trip answered, mimicking Eric's usual sarcasm. He waited for Eric to continue. "Well…?"

The dark haired man sighed.

"If you tell anyone about this…"

"Tell them what? That you took the stick out of your ass and started talking civilly to us commonfolk?" came a voice floating down from the upstairs loft.

"Why do I bother?" Eric mumbled, getting up from the table where he and Trip had been sitting. "Nice to see the dead walks, I'll let myself out Trip thanks for the… coffee." 

"Lucas, that wasn't called for!" Trip retorted, glaring daggers at the Asiatic man who just appeared at the top of the landing.

"Why not? Because he HASN'T treated us like dirt for two days?" came Lucas's quick reply.

Trip said nothing.

Eric sighed, here he had been ready to discuss the sense of impending doom he had been feeling for the past few days and it would figure that there would be people out to get him.

"It's okay Trip, I should be going anyway." He shot a death glare up to the man on the landing, "Nice to talk to you again Lucas, hope to see you real soon too."

He looked away from Lucas and started back to the stairs that they had used to come up from downstairs. As he turned, Lucas caught the briefest look of, pain, etched deep into Eric's face. But before he could look again, it disappeared. 

'The ever feeling-less Eric, showing emotion?' Lucas wondered, 'will wonders never cease?'

Trip glared up at Lucas once again before he turned and followed Eric.

Lucas ignored it and came off the landing.

Eric had looked _human_!? What was going on?

End Chapter Eight


	10. A New Outlook?

Hey everyone this is Satori Blackthorn, sorry about the lapse in chapters, I've been beyond busy and tomorrow I leave for a three week cadet camp. Go me!

I'll try and speed up the updates, as people have been complaining.

Satori

****

Chapter Nine

A New Outlook?

It was nearing noon when Jen and Katie finally awoke, though nothing unusual for Katie, who regularly slept in until 12:00, it was a new record for Jen. 

"Morning sleepyheads." Lucas teased when he saw their bed-headed forms come slowly down the landing.

Not surprisingly the first thing out of Jen's mouth was – 'Is Wes up yet?'

She didn't see Lucas smirk before he answered her question.

"I didn't check on him yet, he hasn't shown himself yet, maybe he fell off." He shrugged then went back to the paper he was reading.

Jen frowned but the expression was wasted, no one could look intimidating with their hair poofed out around their head and standing, arms folded across their chest, in pyjamas with flying purple cows, looking all the world like a deranged anime girl gone horribly wrong.

Katie giggled and flopped down opposite Lucas, "Why don't you just go and check on him if you're so worried, you sound like a mother hen!"

Jen bristled, "I am not a mother hen!"

Katie laughed and waved her off, taking the paper from Lucas and turning to the entertainment section.

Mumbling about sadistic, super-strong people with sick senses of humour (say that five times fast…) Jen went over to the window to the roof where she'd left Wes last night. 

"Wes? Wes?" she called out in a whisper, thinking that maybe he was still asleep and not really wanting to pester him if he was. "Wes, are you still there?"

She caught sight of him around the corner of the roof, near the windows on the other side of the building. He was sitting near the edge, one foot dangling down and the other knee tucked up under his chin, looking deep in thought and apparently not hearing Jen's calls.

She smiled in relief, seeing that he was still alive and that her dream-filled night of Red Ranger pancakes had been in vain. She needn't have worried, she chastised herself, Wes was made of stronger stuff than to fall off the roof in his sleep and let that do him in.

Jen stepped out onto the roof, intending to sit with him and see if he had slept better last night, under a blanket of stars, when she felt something tugging at her mind.

She sat down on the window ledge quickly, wondering what this feeling was that prevented her from talking to Wes, who still hadn't moved, reminding Jen of the stone gargoyles that guarded the Silver Hills Library. Shaking her head she decided she was just being silly, sleeping in for so long was doing funny things to her mind.

'Just like Katie,' she thought absentmindedly, 'when she told us that cock and bull story of the guy who owned the clock tower.' She steeled up her determination and walked over to Wes, putting a hand on his shoulder. She waited for the feeling to rear its ugly head again, but all traces of it disappeared when Wes looked up at her with a warm smile on his face.

"Jen, good morning, or is it good afternoon?" he teased.

"You'd be tired too if you were up half the night wondering if a certain Red Ranger was going to fall to his death from the clock tower roof…" she teased back, shoving him gently as she sat down.

"You didn't stay up all night worrying about me did you?" he said, with a concerned look in his eyes.

"No, I just waited until you fell asleep, then prayed I wouldn't hear any thumps in the middle of the night." Jen gazed over the horizon of Silver Hills; everything was awake and buzzing, wide-awake now. She had missed seeing the first businessmen and women hit he streets because of her extended slumber. The streets were filled with people moving along, doing their business and making as much noise as possible in the process. She could see from her perch that traffic was backed up along one of the main roads into the city.

'Probably the result of someone's foolish driving.'

The cars behind were making all sorts of rude noises, ranging from beeps to unintelligible shouts, wanting to get back to their lives and not be stuck behind whatever nutball had started the mess. She sighed.

'Wait until flying becomes the daily routine that'll be the highlight of their lives…'

She snapped out of her reverie.

"Did you sleep alright Wes?" she asked, not wanting to ask outright about his dreams yet, lest she provoke another outburst like the one she had witnessed yesterday. Also she did not mention it for another purely selfish reason, if he were to get mad at this point in time, she would not be able to sit beside him in this ever so comfortable arrangement. She felt she could wait awhile before hitting him with what she wanted to say.

"Yeah," he said, shrugging his shoulders, "It was okay, Circuit woke me up when he went on his early morning flight though." 

Jen regarded him quizzically, "Is that all?"

Wes looked down at the petite brunette who was sitting beside him; Jen could feel her heart speed up as she realised just how close she was sitting to him, though the mood was quashed when she remembered she was still in her pyjamas.

"Yes, I slept fine."

"You didn't have any… nightmares then?"

Jen looked at him, expecting another explosion, but received none.

"Nightmares?" Wes laughed, "No, I think those are old news now." 

She narrowed her eyes, something was off. Yesterday talking about these nightmares as if they were the weather was Jen's role. Now Wes thought they were dead and gone?

"Are you sure Wes? You seemed to think they were pretty serious yesterday…"

That elicited another chuckle from Wes, "I guess I just realised how stupid I was sounding, come on, I mean, me? Turning on you guys? That's insane! Don't tell me you believe it still?" he asked looking at her pleadingly.

"I – I don't know…" This was crazy, what had happened to all the talk of doom and all of Silver Hills being destroyed? Where was the talk of the rangers dying before Wes' very eyes? She couldn't deny that this was a far happier and at ease Wes than she had seen in weeks, but the way he shrugged off these premonitions as if they were nothing… it made her feel uneasy.

"Come on Jen, I thought you trusted me further than that…" Wes sounded hurt.

"I **do** believe you Wes, I believe that there was something behind what you were saying yesterday about the dreams you've been having."

"I'm sorry if I made you doubt me Jen, I was just in a weird mood yesterday, I was stupid for thinking that I would hurt you guys, I guess loosing all that sleep finally got to me…"

Jen shook her head again. "Wes, the reason you'd been loosing sleep is because you believed so much in what you were seeing… I admit when you told me about them yesterday I didn't believe you and thought that it was only a side-effect of your sleep deprivation, but after I thought about it I remembered something that I'd read in the Time Force journals in the year 3000…"

Wes' eyes narrowed minutely but the look was gone before Jen noticed it.

"I did some research last night and…"

"Jen? Wes? Do you guys want something to eat for lunch? Trip 'accidentally' ordered Thai again…" Jen heard Katie's voice drifting out from the window. She sighed; there they go – interrupting again. And here she was trying to make sense of Wes. It looked like their discussion would have to wait. 

"Be inside in a minute." Jen called in, forcing her voice to sound bright and pleasant, despite the way her thoughts were churning in turmoil. She looked back to Wes who had stood and was waiting for her to join him for lunch. "We can talk about this later, unless you want to discuss it with the team?"

She watched his expression, if it changed in the slightest, she would know that he had been lying to her and that he was covering up his thoughts about his dream. Maybe yesterday's discussion had made him feel guilty about laying it all on Jen, or maybe she was just reading too much into it. 

Nevertheless he remained smiling.

"I think we'd better just keep it to ourselves, besides if my dreams have gone away there shouldn't be any need to tell them anything, right?"

She smiled in return, glad that the old Wes was finally back where he belonged.

"It'll probably be for the best." She agreed. He took her arm and dragged her to the window.

"Come on, I didn't have anything to eat since lunch yesterday! I'm starved!"

"You're always starved!" she fired back, but let him pull her to the window ledge.

She didn't notice the cool, ice blue glow coming from his once pure green eyes. 

End Chapter Nine


	11. Illusions of Reality

Well I'm back from a LOOOOOONG absence and I wish I had some good reason for being gone, but I don't. You could say it was a mix of writer's block, totally busy days and me being lazy. And if anyone is interested, I'll be posting a Harry Potter story as soon as Rain is done, which will be soon, this is the last chapter before the classic, 'Hell breaks loose' chapter. Hope you enjoy the last, calm chapter.

Satori B.

And, just so you know, I own nothing to do with Power Rangers

Chapter Ten

Illusions of Reality

Wes was having a good day; there were no mutants to fight and he wasn't bruised or beat up in any fashion as remnants of their last battle. Old wounds had healed and he was ready to spend some time doing… normal things for once. Ransik had been quiet as of late and it had finally given him time to relax and unwind. He sat on the dilapidated couch in the designated 'living area' of the Clock Tower. Wes found himself thumbing through an old, very old, copy of Time that someone had left there. 

'Probably Trip fishing through garage sales again,' he thought bemused. He did have to wonder however why Trip had bought it in the first place. 'Maybe Oprah's a big idol in the future…'

He tossed the magazine back onto the sidetable and sighed deeply. He closed his eyes, and was just about ready to drift off into some semblance of a nap when…

"Wes? Wes are you up here?" 

His eyes flew open and he smiled widely, "Up here Jen!" 

Jen, the complete and total object of his desires, though she still didn't know. Every moment he spent with her was as precious as gold. He knew she would have to leave eventually, but until then…

"Wes?" He heard her walking up the stairs, figuring she would need to know where he was he called out to her.

"Yes, oh esteemed leader?"

"There's something I need to talk to you about."

Wes looked at her in surprise, she seemed nervous, something that was not openly displayed on the stoic woman's beautiful face.

"Sure, my schedule's free," he answered. 

Jen sat down on the couch beside him, folding her hands in her lap; she stared at her fingers. 

"I wanted to tell you this for the longest time now, I just can't keep it inside anymore. Wes… I…" she paused, looking as if she was thinking of how to continue. Wes, on the other hand, felt a warm feeling starting to flow through him… Could she? Is this what he thought… What he had been hoping for? …

"Wes, I love you."

She looked up to him, in her eyes, hope glowing like a candle against the dying light of the afternoon.

"I love you too, Jen… I just… couldn't…"

He was cut off, his lips unwittingly met Jen's in their first, and not by far their last, loving kiss.

Wes was having a good day. 

*~*

Wes was having a good day, or at least that was what he thought. What the small, still human, still pure, part of his mind thought.

Psykincon was taking great pleasure in placing the good Wes in these day-dreams, with him not having any idea what his darker side was about to do. He had no idea what Psykincon was going to _make_ him, his body, do. He grinned, his shadowed face breaking into the outline of an evil smirk. The mutant turned to where Ransik was sitting, regarding him impatiently.

"Master, if I may I have your acquiescence…"

"Go." Psykincon inclined his head in a bow and then slowly looked back up to his leader.

"It will be done."

Two sets of evil laughter rang throughout the prison. One peal coming from a mutant with one good eye, and the other with a pair glowing a iridescent, cool blue.

*~*

Eric cleared the stairs leading from the Clock Tower in one easy bound, shaking his head at his foolish actions. What had he been thinking? Going into their home like that? It was impulsive and so…

__

Rash? Heaven knows Eric Myers has never been reckless before…

'I thought I got rid of you…'

__

Honestly, do we have to go through this again? I'm here to stay.

'I'd find it easier to believe if I knew where you came from.'

__

All in due time my dear Quantum Ranger… all in due time… meanwhile, there is a green-haired alien coming our way.

Eric had the strangest sense of the voice filing itself away in some corner of his mind while he was still trying to think of a retort to counter her with.

'Her? This is getting too bizarre.' He had just enough time to gather his thoughts when he heard Trip call out to him.

"Eric? Hey Eric!"

Turning, and trying at the same time to gather his expression into one that would not give away any of the swirling emotions that he was sure were flying across his face, he stared down at the alien. Though he was not surprised that Trip had followed his less than polite exit, it took all his resolve not to look taken aback when he caught sight of his companion.

"Trip, Lucas," he replied coolly. Lucas matched his icy stare with one of equal steadfastness, Trip, on the other hand, looked relieved that Eric would still talk to them.

"Eric… you didn't get to finish explaining why you choose today to visit."

"It was stupid. You probably have some jobs to do so you should just get back to work…" Eric said dismissing them with a casual wave of his hand. He made to turn around when something grabbed his arm.

"Look you egotistical SOB, if there was something you felt was important enough to come to us to talk about it obviously wasn't stupid. Now will you just get over your God damned superiority complex and tell us what the hell you're so concerned about? Because if mine and Trip's feelings are right on this, and that we are all sensing the same thing, there's something big coming. And-" Lucas forcefully let go of his arm and Eric let it fall to his side. He felt it burn slightly where his hand had been digging into his tensed muscles. "- If it is big enough that a know-nothing grunt like you can feel it, it's big enough that we're all gonna have to work together. As much as I hate to say it, it's the truth."

Eric looked to the two men. The expressions they now wore were sincere, and full of determination. 

"Fine. You know Lucas, I never thought I'd come to like working with a guy who wore so much gel in his hair that it looks more like a runway than a hairstyle, but at least you have a backbone."

He grinned and watched as the expression spread to his fellow rangers.

"Now come on you two, there's a lot of stuff to talk about. I have a feeling we're not going to have a lot of time to do it, so let's have at her."

"Good idea." Trip motioned; nodding so hard his hair flew into his eyes, though he was still serious. "This is going to take some time." 

*~*

Psykincon went into another dreamlike trance, reaching out into his Nightmare Realm for the evil presence that he had cultivated from Wesley Collins' dark side. 

'Ahhh… there it is… Now my dark servant, it is time to reap what I have sown… It is time.'

__

End Chapter Ten


	12. And all Hell Breaks Loose part one

Sorry that this has taken so long, and there is no really good reason why I have been away for so long other than my totally ineptitude and laziness. This is the beginning of what you've all been waiting for, hence the title of - 

Chapter Eleven

And all Hell Breaks Loose

A series of explosions tore through the business district of Silver Hills, startling one Damon MacDonald, a senior executive in one of the many state-of-the-art buildings in the area. The man, dressed for yet another day at the office, ducked and watched in alarm as a rain of ash fell upon his head, followed by an intense heat. Damon looked around, and seeing no one around him hurt; he brushed the ash from his darkened hair, now brightly streaked with grey, and made his way to the epicenter of the noise.

He had made it about five steps before another series of explosions could be heard through the air, and another rain of debris followed. Using some of the more creative curses he had picked up many years ago in the militia, before coming home to follow in his father's footsteps, he brushed some still-flaming wreckage from his shoulder. He watched uneasily as the ember floated to the ground. He had been sure it was dead, but the flame still lingering stubbornly proved otherwise. Another flame landed in a nearby garbage can, consuming it contents hungrily.

"What matter of hellfire is this?" he whispered, still fighting to make headway against the increasing heat and dropping remains created by the fire. 

Suddenly, despite the skin-searing heat, he felt a cold shiver go through his body. Slowly he turned, sensing some presence.

"A new breed." 

Damon looked up to see where the voice was coming from and was shocked to find himself staring down the blade of a long, very dangerous looking sword, held by no other than the Time Force Red Ranger, or at least, what looked to be the Red Ranger. Damon had seen enough of the Rangers on the news to know that they had a few secrets up their sleeves, and the armour the Ranger was bedecked in looked fairly reminiscent of the outfit he had seen him fighting in a few weeks ago. But there was one major alteration. This armor wasn't the red and gold he remembered it to be, it was a cold black, outlined in silver.

"And a new generation of evil to go along with it…"

And suddenly, a small ember burning through his latest, expensive Armani suit was the last of Damon's immediate worries.

*~*

"Rangers! You're needed in the business district! A series of explosions has practically upset the entire block! Ransik must have sent out a mutant from the X-Vault! This one seems powerful, there's fires starting up everywhere! The local fire departments can't do anything to the flames, so they're evacuating everyone from the area. These fires are unnatural; they don't spread of their own accord… It's like nothing I've ever seen before." Circuit cried, flapping his robotic wings in alarm. "I don't have any more data on this mutant, I'll gather everything I can from when you encounter it."

"Affirmative Circuit." Jen answered. 

"Be careful."

"We will. Don't worry. Come on Katie!" Jen yelled, signaling to Trip and Lucas at the same time on her morpher. "Trip, Lucas, we've got an emergency, you and Eric meet us on Bayview, we'll continue on from there! Move it!"

__

"We're on it!" Trip answered, and a hologram of Lucas' head nodded sharply before disappearing. She then heard Eric come across her morpher.

__

"The Silver Guardians are on their way to do what they can."

"Right. Get them to focus on evacuation. Everyone needs to get out of there. Fast. Tell them to be careful. You heard Circuit."

__

"Roger. Out."

"Wes! Come on!" Jen cried just about ready to fly down the Clock Tower stairs. "Wes?" She looked to the picnic table, where the two of them had been playing some 21st century card game Jen had yet to get the hang of, before Circuit had alerted them to the crisis downtown. Shaking her head and hoping he had started off on his own while she had been conversing across the morpher, she bolted downstairs – morphing as she landed the last step. She called out her vector cycle and gunned the bike to follow Katie, already in Ranger guise, seconds ahead of her. There was a roar of machinery behind her and she glanced over her shoulder to confirm what she had already guessed. Trip and Lucas had caught up with them and directly behind them she saw the Quantum Cycle in all its crimson glory. The Rangers were on their way. 

But where was Wes?

*~*

Katie poured every nuance of speed out of her Vector Cycle, she sensed that there was something even more dangerous about this mutant than any others but she still couldn't rid herself of the feeling of exhilaration she experienced every time she rode at this speed. The others all thought Lucas was the speed demon of the group, and that was true, at least when it came to cars. She had always loved cycles; unfortunately, they were almost obsolete in the year 3000 so here was the only place where she was free to ride them frequently. At least, whenever they were needed for Ranger business or the occasional time when she had convinced Wes to let her take his own 'baby' out for a spin.

She took this moment of time before the battle to think about her family, as she usually did before they fought the thrice-damned mutants Ransik set upon the city. She missed them; there was no doubt about that. 

'Momma, Dad, Jas… I'll be home soon.' She thought with finality, and for the first time, not with longing or sadness. She supposed she had finally grown accustomed to this backwards era. She missed her family dearly, but the time would come when she returned. Besides, she had another family right here with her in this time. The other Rangers might not be her blood relatives, but they were close enough to be. Jen was almost like a sister to her, even before they had hijacked the Time Ship to come to the past and Lucas and Trip were the same way, her adopted brothers. Wes, even though he was new, Katie, being her usual overprotective self, though of him as family too, Eric, well… Eric was the annoying next door neighbor that came over to visit and might as well been family. It was close enough. 

The important thing was that she had something here for her now. Her friends were enough to get her through the worst of the homesickness that she was feeling, and together, they would fix all the wrongs in this century. 

Soon, she sensed. This war would be over soon. 

But first they would have to get through this day.

*~*

Trip grimaced as they neared the area downtown where the mutant had been first spotted; the place was in shambles. There was burning wreckage everywhere and people hurrying out of the danger zone. He could feel the panic radiating off everyone as they fled. Terror, fear, uncertainly, and all similar feelings were coming off the civilians in waves. Here and there he could see flashes of uniforms through the crowds. Coupled with the constant chatter he picked up on his morpher, which he had set on scan as per usual for an emergency, he deduced that the local law enforcement was doing everything within their power to quell the citizen's panic and get them out of the area safely.

'Thank the gods that the fire doesn't spread on its own accord…' he thought seeing the plumes of smoke all over the district. 'That's something we don't need to worry about right now…'

He did a passive telepathic scan over the area, searching for the mutant's brainwaves. Usually, this process would be simple, but today.

"Jen," he called into the morpher, "I can't get a sure lock on the mutant's whereabouts! The only thing I can read is that there is a massing of evil energies in the direct centre of the business district!"

__

"Copy that Trip, we'll get him, don't try scanning again, I don't want to risk you getting drained before the battle." Jen said from over her own morpher.

"Affirmative Jen, out."

He cut the connection swiftly, but couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. The evil he felt was more pure than anything he had ever sensed before. This was more than a simple mutant, more than even an X-Vault mutant with an army of Cyclobots. The dream he had that morning came back to him unbidden.

'That crystal, it had awesome powers… The gods forbid that Ransik was able to get a hold of some ancient power source. I'm not sure if all the technology in Time Force would be enough to handle some magical assault… And to think this morning I was hoping to figure my vision out.' He thought in irony, then focused once again on blocking out the cries of the terrified civilians of Silver Hills.

End Part One


	13. And all Hell Breaks Loose part two

And here is the much awaited for part two! Go figure. 

Part Two

*~*

Lucas set his face into the usual impassive, cold expression he usually wore when he had to deal with mutants and the devastation they left in their wake. Today was no different. There was no reason to treat this mutant different than any other of the scumbags they had already put into cryo-containment. Except…

This one was different. 

He knew it.

The discussion between him, Eric and Trip got rid of any doubts he had harbored that this mutant was just another run-of-the-mill lackey.

__

"You've felt it haven't you?" Trip asked the Quantum Ranger after they had calmed down enough to discuss things rationally. "You know there's something coming."

"Yes." Eric had answered simply. 

"Same here." Lucas voiced, unnecessarily, but feeling the need to contribute nonetheless. "What do you think Eric?"

He shrugged, and Lucas frowned when he saw his usual closemouthed attitude coming back to the fore. Lucas prepared to give him another verbal assault when Eric sighed deeply and looked up at he two of them.

"I don't know. Honestly, I have no sweet clue as to what this feeling means. They don't teach you stuff like that in the Marines. All I know is that it's bad and that I'll have to help you and the other Rangers. That's all I can tell you." He sighed again. " But do you have any idea how annoying it is to have some cyber implant talking to you in your mind?"

Lucas and Trip looked at him apprehensively, thinking that the stress of running the Silver Guardians had finally done something to snap him.

"Oh right. That's something to explain later." Eric said in shame, though with a wry grin on his face.

"Later sounds good."

His and Eric's unease and apprehension, Trip's vision he had that morning and Wes' strange behavior… it was all too much of a coincidence to mean anything but a powerful enemy was waiting for them.

'Let him come.' Lucas thought, pulling his cycle to a stop in a squeal of rubber. He calmly surveyed the block; it was overrun with cyclobots. The robots were firing randomly, creating even more chaos in the already wild civilians. He gave a small grin and took out his chronosaber and gathered himself before he charged out into the fray. 'Let him do his worst. And let's all pray that there'll be a later time to discuss things.'

*~*

Eric jumped off the Quantum Cycle and gave some sharp commands over his radio. He told his second-in-command Harvey that he was in the area and to continue evacuating the civilians.

__

"Copy that Chief, the area is 75% done already, police and firefighters are doing their best to help." 

"Keep it up Harv, Myers out."

He surveyed the area immediately around him, the unnatural flames sprang from every nook and cranny and cyclobots were coming out of the woodwork. He took in the numbers and kicked one of the robots that had rushed up to him and quickly took his gun from its holster, clicking off the safety and adjusting the power setting in one smooth motion.

'Now, getting rid of this garbage, I can handle,' he thought, taking out the first assault of them with the Quantum Defender. There were rows upon rows of the stupid machines. All of them waiting patiently for the Rangers to beat them into submission.

__

Come on then, sounded the woman's voice, now sounding impatient. _Don't just stand there like an idiot blast them!_

'Am I to detect some bloodlust?'

__

Hey, I'm only a shade of you remember?

'Of course, how silly of me to forget…' he thought back.

The cyclobots still keep coming and Eric welcomed them. After his week of restlessness, this was exactly what he needed. He barely resisted the urge to cry out in childish delight as he smashed to of the mindless creatures into each other as they simultaneously tried to impale him with their sabers.

__

Get a grip Eric. She reprimanded him sharply. Though, if she was made of flesh and blood, Eric wouldn't have doubted there would have been a small smile on her face.

He took out another flank of Cyclobots, using his own martial arts skills to disable the robots, finding the other Rangers too close for the QD's blasts.

They fought together, breaking through the ranks until they were surrounded, Eric found himself working with the other Time Force Rangers. As one cunning Cyclobot attempted to skewer the Yellow Ranger, Eric took it out with a nicely-aimed tornado kick to the back of the head. And, when another robot tried to throw Eric into a raging wall of flames, the Pink Ranger blasted the robot into the sheet of fire in his place with her Chronosaber.

Was this what working as a team meant?

Was this the meaning of teamwork?

Trust?

__

Got it in one, though it sure took you long enough.

'I don't remember asking for your comments, again.'

__

Forgive me for being proud of you.

'Yes now, let's just get back to the senseless robot bashing, shall we?'

__

Sounds good to me, after you.

'Like there's any other way…'

Touché.

End Part Two


	14. Sting of Betrayal

Chapter Twelve Sting of Betrayal  
  
I just wanted to make sure that this chappie was as good as I could make it, and actually put in my author's notes, this is not a new chapter obviously, but I will get the new one out soon. I promise. Thanks for all your reviews, they keep my trucking! (This is for later on in the chapter- )... I know that the Time Force helmets don't do that but I'm the authoress so I changed it a bit... Thanks to cmar for pointing out that A/N in the middle of a chapter are kind of distracting... I never really realized it before. Satori B.  
  
Jen fought the Cyclobots automatically; punching, dodging, kicking and blasting them almost as an afterthought. The thing that weighed most heavily on her mind wasn't the mindless robots that were coming at her from all sides, but rather where one charismatic red ranger was during this insane battle.  
  
'Where in all the nine hells is Wes!' she thought, blasting a Cyclobot into a wall of the unnatural fire and thus saving the Quantum Ranger from being toasted. He nodded a quick thanks to the pink ranger before diving into the midst of yet another swarm of robots.  
  
"Jen, this is too easy, I think that this might just be a distraction. They're just throwing themselves at us!" Lucas' voice came through her helmet and her worried frown deepened even farther.  
  
"I've noticed Lucas, we'll have to play their game and wait to see what they're getting at."  
  
"I don't like it Jen."  
  
"Neither do I Lucas, Jen out."  
  
She set her shoulders and dove into another mess of robots, following Eric's example and starting blasting anything that dared come her way. She was vaguely aware that she was heading into the center of the battle. They were trying to hem them in.  
  
"Guys, they're circling us! Get back to the outside!" she cried into the communicator. How could she have been so stupid, to fall for the oldest trick in the book? Taking her frustration out on the mindless automatons, she noticed that her friends were doing their best to make it to better positions.  
  
A harsh blast from one of the Cyclobot's lasers hit her from behind and she fell to the ground. Jen braced herself for more pain, she was aware of the numb sensation traveling from her mid-back her to toes as a result of the first true hit, but she was spared more agony.  
  
Not only had she not been hit anymore, but it seemed that the fighting itself had paused, or at least slowed down infinitely. The only sound that Jen's ringing ears could make out was the low, far away roar of the strange, mutated fire.  
  
Struggling, she pulled herself to her feet.  
  
She expected to see the robots surrounding her. She expected to see the Cyclobots beating her friends as they were held defenseless. She expected all manners of unpleasant things, but nothing on Earth could have prepared her for what she saw when she regained enough mobility to look up.  
  
"Hello Jen, prepare to die."  
  
"Wes?"  
  
And indeed, it was him, though he wasn't dressed in anything that Jen had ever seen before. His Red Knight armor was now black and silver and the beautiful sword that was entrusted to him was glowing and reeked of evil. He grinned, but it wasn't the endearing, bashful and adorable smile that he often gave her, this one was a sadistic grin that spoke only of finding joy in others' pain. And it wasn't only his smile that was distorted, but also his eyes. They had changed from their friendly blue-green glow to an empty midnight black.  
  
Jen was confused. What was going on? This couldn't be Wes.  
  
"What happened to you?" she whispered.  
  
She wasn't aware of the other rangers stop in their struggles to stare at the now dark ranger. Trip was looking like his worst nightmare was coming true and Katie and Lucas were staring hopelessly. Unbelieving, and devastated that their friend was now wearing the enemy's colours.  
  
Eric, on the other hand, was now fighting insanely to be free of the many robots that were latching on to his arms and legs, preventing him from moving any closer to the center of the circle. Finally freeing himself, though not without considerable effort on his behalf, he struggled to keep himself upright.  
  
"Wes, what the hell do you think you're doing?!"  
  
But before he could say anymore, the robots had regrouped and overpowered him, leading him to screaming at Wes unintelligibly from beneath the grasping arms of the mindless Cyclobots.  
  
"Wes... what's going on?" Katie cried, she couldn't bring herself to use her super strength, the will to fight gone with the thought that Wes might have betrayed them.  
  
A spine-tingling laugh made Jen's weakened body shudder as the shivers aggravated her bruised parts. But, thankfully, the deranged laugh hadn't come from Wes, or what appeared to be Wes. Jen denied that something with eyes so cold and empty, couldn't possibly be Wes, no matter how much it looked like him on the surface.  
  
"My dear Pink Ranger, this is not the Wes that you know. Rather the shadow that he keeps hidden away in the dark and lonely corners of his mind, waiting for the chance that he might let him out to wreak havoc. I have given him the opportunity and means to do so."  
  
The thing laughed again and stepped out from behind Wes. It was a mutant, though this one seemed more intelligent and filled with more evil than any she had ever faced before. He was covered in a twisting cloak that hide most of his body from view. But from what the cloak DID let show, Jen saw that his entire body was a mass of slowly whirling shadows.  
  
Realization hit Jen harder than the robot's blast.  
  
"You!" she spat out venomously, while the others looked on in pain and confusion. Wes, however, looked down at her charred and dirt-smeared ranger suit indifferently, a stinging sensation made its home in Jen's eyes at his uncaring look. She stiffened her resolve and pushed herself to her feet, all the time glaring daggers at the shadowy mutant from beneath her helmet. "It was YOU! YOU're the mutant from Wes' dreams! You're the cause of all this! You're the one who turned him against us." She stepped forward, stumbling slightly, still regaining the use of her stunned muscles. "Let him go," she hissed.  
  
"You pathetic Ranger," the mutant replied condescendingly to her tirade, not affected in the least. "Allow me to introduce myself." He gave her and the other rangers a mock bow. "I am Psykincon, master of the Nightmare Realm. And I shall only take the glorious credit for the dreams of your precious Red Ranger and the mastermind behind the beautiful fires plaguing your precious city, but Wes came to out side by his own accord. Like I said, I only gave him the opportunity to break free."  
  
"No," Jen heard Katie whisper. Lucas and Eric were glaring vehemently, but were looking uncertain. Their thoughts were clearly written in their expressions: Wes wouldn't have gone over voluntarily, would he?  
  
"YOU'RE LYING!" Jen screamed, flying towards him in a rage, but quick as lightning, Wes was there to intercept her. He held on to her wrists with python-like strength preventing her from making it all the way to Psykincon. Wes wrapped his arms around her and held her still, forcing her to be pressed tightly against his muscular and fully armored body.  
  
She felt the tears of frustration that had threatened to fall earlier slide down her face at this irony. Any other time, Jen would have done anything to be in the position she was in now. But now Wes' embrace had none of the warmth and safety she'd envisioned, only a smothering and painful reminder that she had to do something quickly.  
  
"No, I'm sorry my dear Ranger, but I'm telling you the truth ask my Black Knight for his side of the story."  
  
Jen let the tinted visor of her helmet slide back so that she could look at the once Red Ranger more clearly.  
  
"Wes. Please, don't say that he's telling the truth. Please."  
  
"Come on Wes," she heard her teammates echo, "you're not like this... You're not evil."  
  
Wes, or rather, the Dark Knight, looked down at her, malice in his eyes.  
  
"All right then," he said softly, squeezing her ribs even more, he moved so that his head was only inches away from hers. He was so close that she could feel his breath on her cheek. Jen trembled in fear. This wasn't Wes. This wasn't the man she had abused, then finally befriended and, just recently, had admitted to herself that she had come to love. He came even closer, until he was so close that his lips gently brushed against her ear when he whispered, "I won't say it then."  
  
Jen froze, and felt her heart shatter into a million, tiny pieces.  
  
Then, still in her ear, he finished whispering –  
  
"Are you ready to die Jen?"  
  
Her eyes widened in fear.  
  
She couldn't bring herself to move, even when he let go of her wrists and she fell, weak-kneed to the battle-scarred ground.  
  
With insane calmness, he drew the black sword from the scabbard belted around his waist and stood admiring the blade that shone with an eerie pale blue glow. He looked back to her, and she noticed with mounting fear that his eyes had changed, but not to the comforting color of blue-green that she had admired so much, but to the same pale blue that encircled his sword.  
  
He lifted his sword and the only thought that penetrated Jen's locked mind was that Jen would never get to feel Wes' arms around her again, that instead she would be hewn to pieces by those same strong arms.  
  
"Goodbye Jen." 


	15. Showdown

Well, here y'all go, I hope that this wasn't that long of a wait. This was an EXTREMELY hard chapter for me to write and as you read it I think you'll see why. This one's longer than most of my other chapters and is just jam-packed with action for all your reading pleasure.

Before you begin I'd just like to send a couple of shout outs in the way of **Giannola** and **cmar** for all of their help, this chapter **would not** have been possible without them. Giannola for getting me unstuck in the plot and cmar for helping my through the chapter and making sure everything was flowing smoothly. You guys rock!!

Other shout outs to-

Jffan – I tried to make it a bit more fast-paced, hope you like it!

White time ranger – Here's the next one. Thanks for the push!

CMR – Compliments are always welcome! They make my day.

Alexis – I love writing, and knowing that people are reading make me go so much faster. Thanks!

Keep the reviews coming, because of you guys, I've decided to extend the story at least a chapter and a half.

As a bonus, I've written in a line from one of my favorite movies. I'll give a prize to anyone who can find it and tell me what movie it's from!

And as always, I don't own Power Rangers. Now, to bring you all back to the cliffhanger I left you with last chapter-

Satori

Chapter Thirteen

Showdown

"Goodbye Jen." Wes whispered.

She saw his arms rise in slow motion and the glittering sword seemed to hang, unmoving, in midair. He was going to kill her. The man she loved was going to kill her. Jen's heart found the very idea appalling, unbelievable, laughable almost, but her mind was screaming at her to move because she knew that this imposter would do it. But somehow she still couldn't bring herself to move away from him.

"Wes," she whispered, so only he could hear, "Wes, it's me. Please, don't do this. You're better than that." Her body was unwilling to move, from both the pain wrought by the Cyclosaber blast to her back and the excruciating burning she felt in her heart. "Come on Wes, fight it..."

For the briefest of moments, Jen thought she saw a glimpse of concern flash across Wes' face, along with a look of uncertainty and confusion. He met her eyes and she knew that the real Wes was looking back at her. The blank look in his eyes was replaced with the comforting shine of his natural blue-green twinkle.

But then, the recognition was gone, replaced by the ice blue glow that symbolized the nightmare mutant's control over the Red Ranger. His face contorted back into a sadistic grin and he tensed back up, ready to plunge his sword into the prone pink ranger.

Psykincon had control once more.

The pink ranger felt all hope drain from her body and flow into the hard concrete as the Black Knight spoke his next words.

"It's been nice knowing you."

Jen looked up at the monster Wes had become, accepting the end. The sword started its descent. But instead of feeling more pain, she instead heard the unmistakable ring of metal on metal.

"Not today, rich-boy!"

Jen was stunned out of her staring contest with death and was surprised beyond all reasoning to see a black and red blur had darted in front of her. Using a saber he managed to commandeer from a Cyclobot, Eric blocked the huge sword that Wes was wielding.

"Jen now is a good a time as any to MOVE!" Eric cried, as Wes, noticing that there weren't pieces of Jen littering the streets, poured more of his strength into suppressing Eric. The Quantum Ranger held the Cyclo-saber in two hands and bit-by-bit the black blade was coming closer to his face. Jen stared at Eric's back for another moment then snapped out of her funk.

"Thanks Eric," she said, the tone in her voice displaying how heartfelt the sentiment was. Eric only grunted in reply, but Jen wasn't sure whether or not it was from the strain or his usual attitude. Nevertheless, she pushed her numb body off to the side, away from the clash between Wes and Eric.

She found herself on the outskirts of the battle in a pain-induced daze, wondering if this could possibly be all a nightmare brought about by 21st century food. It had happened before... She was startled out of her wondering when a gold robot tried to bash her skull in with a steel pipe it had picked up somewhere. Deciding to take care of the matter at hand, she pushed the pain to the back of her mind, hoping the technology inlaid into her Ranger suit would dull the throbbing. Usually it only healed minor injuries like scrapes and over-taxed muscles. Hopefully, the suit would abate it a bit, because it looked like it would be a while before she could get any relief.

A predatory glint in her eyes, she started taking out her fears and anger at Psykincon on the hapless robot and, when it was demolished, she took out any others that came into range of her Chronosaber. She kept a watchful eye on the nightmare mutant, not wanting him to escape. Hopefully he couldn't get too far away from Wes, for fear of loosing even more control over him. He was hers... as soon as she took out the garbage.

'Stay right there Psykincon, I'm coming after you,' she thought. 'No one does this to a member of my team and walks away from it. No one.'

"Now it's just you and me Wes. Now, tell me what the hell do you think you're doing?" Eric said in anger.

"I don't think you're in any position to make demands Eric," the Black Knight smirked.

The blade was only inches away from Eric's head.

"Is that so?" Eric neatly deflected the black blade away from its course with a quick kick to Wes' elbows and ducked under his sword. With another kick, this time to his gauntleted wrists, Eric stood and the weapon went clattering to the pavement meters away. The suddenness of the attacks sent Wes staggering back a couple steps, but he regained his footing quickly.

"You think that separating me from my weapon is enough to tip the scales in your favour?" Wes asked in a mocking tone. "Now really, Eric you shouldn't kid yourself like that."

"You talk too much rich boy, if you really want to go about killing us all, you should get on with it, before I get bored with your taunts." Eric shot back, standing up and at the same time tossing the Cyclo-saber off to the side. He slowly relaxed himself into a martial arts fighting stance. "I always knew you'd screw the whole ranger thing up. At least now I get to prove to everyone that I can kick your ass from here to Zanzibar – and now I can't get in trouble for it, because now **you're** the bad guy. So, what are you waiting for? You're not afraid of little ol' me are you?"

Eric's last statement must have triggered something in the Black Knight because he practically leapt at Eric and started throwing punches with deadly accuracy. Had Eric not been the fighter he was, or in the strength-boosting ranger garb, he would have faltered at the onslaught.

"And you say I talk too much." He hissed, as one of his punches made contact with Eric's stomach.

Eric grunted in pain and wanted to double over, but drew strength from his anger and looked up with brown eyes filled with contempt for the man that stood in front of him. "Keep it coming traitor, but know that I refuse to die by your soiled hands."

As soon as the Quantum Ranger had broken free and intercepted the Black Knight's sword, the other Rangers, minus Jen, had escaped the grasps of the robots restraining them and started to fight with uncontrolled fury. Only one thought could permeate through the fiery-red haze that enveloped their minds, 'Wes would never turn on us, would he?' But with every punch and kick exchanged between Eric and Wes, they started to doubt that any semblance of their friend was left in the shell that was fighting the Quantum Ranger.

"_We have to help Eric guys,"_ Trip said through their communication link.

"_How are we supposed to get to him? Every time I move closer, I find myself at the bottom of a Cyclobot dog pile."_ Katie replied sounding frustrated._ "There doesn't seem to be an end to them, where do they keep coming from?"_

"_Think about it,"_ came Lucas' winded voice, after having being kicked in the stomach by a particularly persistent robot, "_Ransik and Psykincon only have this many 'bots because they want W-... the Black Knight to take us on one by one. They must think that we would somehow break the hold Psykincon has on Wes if we fight together."_

"_Lucas, that doesn't make any... argh... sense!" _Trip grunted as he threw off another onslaught of robots.

"_Do you have any better ideas? Because if you do I'm more than willing to hear them!"_ the blue ranger said in irritation. There was silence on both ends of the comm. link. "_That's what I thought," _Lucas continued in a calmer tone, despite the fight going on around him, "_we have to find a way to help, otherwise, I don't think that Eric will last much longer."_

"_I might not like the guy too much, but I'm not going to let him have all the fun."_ Katie said, trying to lighten the mood. The effect was minimal, but it took their minds off what they knew they would have to do once managed to escape the Cyclobots' grasps.

Meanwhile, in the center of the battle, Eric was fighting tooth and nail against the possessed red ranger. He was tired and it didn't look like Wes was affected by any of the attacks that Eric had scored on him. The Quantum ranger was in pain, and he couldn't hide the fact any more than he could hide his anger at the situation. Wes had broken through his defenses and hit him hard, and while the other rangers were fighting their own mini-battles mostly standing stationary, the two had danced through the melee. Eric had been thrown into parked vans and slammed into the walls of the warehouses, leaving more than a few dents in his wake. His ranger suit was dirty and torn. In some places blood from his injuries was flowing freely, staining his outfit an even darker shade of crimson. His helmet was cracked and the visor was shattered beyond use so the Asian was forced to expose his eyes.

All in all, the fight was looking none too promising for the Quantum Ranger.

Eric made another attempt to bring Wes down by aiming a kick at Wes' exposed neck but he evaded the attack by ducking down and taking out Eric's planted foot. At any other time, Eric would have jumped to avoid such an easy move, but his energy was fading. He lost his balance and landed hard on the ground. But he wasn't so far gone that he couldn't backflip out of the way of a foot flying towards his face. Wes landed where Eric had been only moments before. Seeing that Eric was neither beneath his foot or in front of him he looked up to see the Quantum ranger falling from the sky, a pilfered sword in his hands. In a swift movement Wes dropped to the ground and caught the falling ranger using his feet and shoving Eric head over heels into a pile of immobile robots. Not expecting such an unorthodox move, Eric landed heavily.

He shook the dizziness from his mind and saw Wes waiting for him in from where he had thrown him. Glancing down at the pile of refuse he was lying in, he noticed the familiar shape of the Cyclobots' strange blasters. With his Quantum defender lying useless inside one of the warehouses, Eric decided that these were better than nothing. Firing two of them simultaneously, he was pleased to see that the alien weapons had the desired effect. The Black Knight was down, and knowing that it wouldn't last for long, he sprang from the pile and darted forward, still firing at the stooped figure.

When Eric reached Wes he tossed the blasters to the side and relaxed into another fighting stance, signaling he was prepared for the next round. Wes staggered to his feet, finally looking as if he hadn't walked straight out of a tailor's shop. He was ruffled that Eric had managed to surprise him, though he should have suspected the Quantum Ranger would not be such an easy adversary. He wiped a thin trickle of blood that was making its way down his chin and faced Eric audaciously, despite fully knowing the strength left in his foe.

"So what now Eric? Are we to be two rangers locked in epic battle 'til Judgment Day and trumpets sound?" Wes asked imploringly, stepping forward to meet him head on, already knowing how he would answer. Eric wouldn't disappoint him.

"Or you could surrender."

Wes laughed and launched himself at Eric. In the fury of his attacks he had Eric completely on the defensive. His fists flew, black and silver a blur against a staggering red and black.

"You know that's never going to happen."

The Black Knight fought with insane strength, as if he was fresh from a whole day of rest, though he might not look it. Eric found himself buckling under the assault. Blow after blow landed on his already battered body. He blocked a couple, but all that that did was bruise his forearms more and more.

There was no way that any part of the Wes Eric knew could possibly be left in the Black Knight. Wes might have hated him and would have loved to get a couple of hits in, but this was beyond frustration at Eric. The man he was fighting against didn't care if Eric was killed. Wes would have, despite disagreements in their past.

Finally Eric knew that he couldn't take any more of it. His knees gave out and he could only grimace in pain as he felt the Quantum powers leave him, unable to withstand the beating. His suit disappeared in a flash of red and black energies.

Eric was at the mercy of the impostor.

"Night night, Eric," Wes sneered as he kicked him roughly in the chest once more, then planted one foot on his ribs in a show of victory. Eric looked once more up at the thing that Psykincon had under its control. The last thing he saw before he was enveloped by blackness were the empty, blank eyes of the man he had once called his friend.

End Chapter Thirteen


	16. Aftermath

Wasn't that last chapter just chock full of action? I was some proud of myself. This story's drawing to a close, but don't worry, there's still a couple of twists left before the curtain drops.

Trust me.

Satori B.

_**Chapter Fourteen**_

_Aftermath_

Psykincon grinned, the next phase of the mission was completed, one ranger was down and odds were even the famed Quantum Ranger would not be able to recover from his injuries overnight. The Black Knight had made sure of this. At this moment, his puppet was standing over his foe in victory, as his former teammates looked on, trying valiantly to get past their robotic opponents and get over to the Quantum Ranger. The nightmare mutant chuckled, this was only the beginning of the pain he would instill on these do-gooders. He would make sure that none of them would walk away from this battle alive.

If they died here, he wouldn't have to worry about them having messed about in the future.

But no one was going to die today.

No, not today.

"Come Wes, we have other matters to attend to." Psykincon ordered, swirling his cape about behind him as he turned. The Black Knight seemed reluctant to leave the fight, but after a moment's hesitation and one more spiteful kick to Eric's side, he followed obediently behind Psykincon.

Psykincon waved a shadowed arm in front of him and a swirling black portal appeared. The mutant stepped through the hole and disappeared, at the same time all of the Cyclobots faded from the scene, including the broken down robots the rangers had destroyed during the battle. In the background, the group noticed that the strange flames that had been plaguing the city had receded, and were not nearly as looming as before.

But the safety of the city was not the first thing on any of their minds, even with their sworn responsibility as rangers.

Now free of the grasping hands of the robots, the rangers stumbled in their haste to reach Eric and the retreating figure that had been Wes. Lucas, Katie and Trip started tending to Eric's injuries as Jen slowly made her way to the Black Knight, who was still hovering near the portal.

Jen powered down and looked at Wes with tears threatening to spill and emotions reeling.

"Wes..."

The Black Knight simply looked at her, expressionless, before taking one step towards her.

"I'll be back Jen," came his cold voice, "and we will finish this." Then, moving swiftly, he disappeared through the portal. It closed behind him, leaving the scorch marks and marred walls and cars as the only artifacts of their painful battle.

"Wes... We will get you back. I promise." Jen whispered then with more conviction, "and I will make Psykincon pay for what he has done to you."

** Meanwhile... elsewhere... **

In the Time Force prison serving as the headquarters for the mutant overlord Ransik, a huge 30th century television monitor was being used to project the scene from the battle. Ransik frowned as Psykincon opened a portal and left the site.

"Daddy? What is the mutant doing?" Nadira asked suspiciously from her perch on the arm of her father's chair. "Why doesn't he destroy all of the Rangers now?"

Ransik's good eye narrowed as his daughter voiced his own thoughts.

"We will have to wait and see Daughter," he answered casually, though inwardly he was practically bubbling in anger that the mutant was going against the plan. Ransik wanted answers and wanted them _now_. He knew that Psykincon probably had some ulterior motives planned pertaining to the Rangers, his contacts in the future had lightly mentioned the matter and glossed over the fact that the mutant might make a move on his own and against orders. Ransik had heard rumors on what Psykincon might have against the Rangers, but HE had hired the Nightmare mutant, Psykincon was working for HIM and be damned if he was going to stand for someone messing with his plans. If things continued on this path... things would have to be done...

Bringing pain onto your enemies was one thing, and kicking them off one by one would be the thing to cause the most emotional agony to the annoying do-gooders, but if there was one thing he'd learned from the Rangers, it was that they wouldn't give up.

And that they had a pesky habit of making an unexpected comeback even when you're sure they were dead. The Quantum Ranger wasn't out of the picture yet, and now that one of their brethren was down, the remaining Rangers would fight even harder. Especially now they knew what they were up against.

Ransik knew that it was hard to kill a Ranger and he knew that Psykincon would learn that lesson soon as well. The only question was when said lesson would be taught.

Ransik grinned sinisterly. He tapped a button on a console beside him and the screen showing the battered Rangers faded into blackness.

"We'll see."

** Back at the Tower **

"_Goodbye Jen." Wes whispered._

"_It's been nice knowing you."_

Jen couldn't stop reliving that one awful moment. Seeing Wes' face so empty and lifeless pulled her heart in ways she didn't think were possible, let alone survivable. The pain so intense, and it just kept pounding at her, it wouldn't stop. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't help but feel betrayed.

What had happened? Had that been the real Wes? She felt tears sting the sides of her eyes but wouldn't let them fall. Not now.

The tears she had shed during the battle were long gone, and she swore that she wouldn't let the others see her fall apart. She knew if she let her emotions go now, she would never be able to stop. With a great deal of effort, she pulled herself back into the conversation; later would be the time for tears.

"What are we going to do Jen?" Katie asked, looking at the leader of the Time Force Rangers with a strange look on her face, "there wasn't anything left of Wes... he's g-" she swallowed the last of the sentence and went back to staring at the floor of the Clock Tower blankly.

The mood filling the Tower was not a cheerful one. After turning Eric over to his second-in-command Harvey, the Rangers had returned home to lick their wounds and try to come up with some sort of strategy. About the only positive thing contributed to the conversation as of yet was Harv calling from the hospital saying that Eric was stable, though still unconscious.

"He's still there Katie," Jen said firmly and with more force than was probably necessary. "He's there. We just have to find some way to break Psykincon's control over him." The mutant's name was practically spat from the Pink Ranger's mouth.

"Well," Lucas said, from the picnic table, "we knew something big was going down. At least know we know what it was."

If any of the rangers appreciated him trying to brighten things up, nothing was said and no indication was given. Lucas sighed, and looked up at the ceiling.

"Come on guys, we have to think of something," Circuit said worriedly, "We can't leave Wes with Psykincon."

For the first time in the conversation Trip's voice broke the silence, "How do you know that Wes is still inside the Black Knight, Jen?" He sounded so dejected that Jen walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. She didn't look him in the eye; rather she stared over his head and out the window, thinking pensively.

"It was only for a fraction of a second," she admitted, "but he **was** there. When he was just about to slice me in half," she winced at how blunt that sounded, "there was a flash when I saw the old Wes looking back at me. He didn't look cold or heartless, it was... Wes," she finished softly.

Trip looked up at her, hope starting to grow again in his chocolate brown eyes, but she was still staring out the window with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Wes..." Katie breathed, a small smile making its way back to her usually cheerful features.

"Then Psykincon was lying."

The three Rangers and the robotic owl looked at the racecar driver in askance.

"About what, Lucas?"

"About everything," Lucas answered distantly, recalling what the mutant had said during the battle.

"Would you care to elaborate on that Lucas?" Katie asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Remember? He said Wes came to his side willingly."

"_- Wes came to our side by his own accord. Like I said, I only gave him the opportunity to break free."_

"I remember, but-" Trip started, realization flared in his expression and Lucas interrupted.

"If that were true, than Jen wouldn't have seen the old Wes looking back at her. Which means that Wes is under some sort of control."

The effects of this simple statement were subtle but nonetheless wonderful. A thousand pound weight seemed to be lifted from everyone's shoulders and the air was ever so much more tranquil.

Jen glanced out the window of the tower once again, a small smile lighting the corners of her mouth. The groundwork of a plan started growing in her mind and her heart stopped squeezing erratically.

'I should have never have doubted you Wes. Don't worry, we're going to bring you home.'


	17. Wake Up Calls

Sorry for the delay everyone. Stupid BF's that do a 180 and dump you kind of tend to put a damper on the writing process... As it was, I think that this was the funnest (yes, I am quite aware that it is not a word...) chapter to write. So far... hehehI have everything for the rest of the story planned out, but I am always open to suggestions. Well. Enjoy this one, and Happy New Year dudes.

Satori B.

As always, thanks muchly to my reviewers. You make my day.

* * *

_**Chapter Fifteen**_

_Wake up calls

* * *

_

_Eric? Eric? Eric! Wake up you damn fool!_

'W-What the hell? Where am… I? What's going on?'

A weary and beaten Eric opened his heavy lids and slowly took in his surroundings. There wasn't much there to speak of, to tell the truth. Everything was white. It looked like he was floating in the middle of nowhere. He couldn't see the ground, nor was there anything to differentiate here from there.

'Am I dead?' He asked himself, still a bit dizzy from the battle.

_No you idiot, you're still alive, but barely._

'Oh. That's good then.'

He was still a bit lightheaded. He took a quick inventory, though his pain-scrambled mind took longer than normal to make a complete assessment. His head was pounding, no surprise there, of course it would hurt if he was having problems thinking clearly… His face was a mass of bruises, as were his forearms and his chest. There was a grisly laceration from his right elbow to wrist that was still seeping blood and he could have sworn that he had a few cracked ribs. His left ankle twinged in protest every time he moved it, and his back felt like an elephant herd had danced the tango over top it.

'I hurt…'

_Will you snap out of it already! There's no time for you to be acting like a flippin' flower-smelling pixie on crack! _

Someone was yelling at him. He shook his head, thinking it would help clear the fog that had settled across his memory. The voice sounded familiar. Like he had fought with it before… He couldn't remember its name, no matter how hard he tried. Did he even know its name? He didn't think he did…

'Why do I hurt?'

'_Cause you just got the shit kicked out of you that's why! Now will you wake up already so I can help you?_

Eric heard the logic in the unknown person's voice and tried to work out the holes in his memory.

'My name is Eric Myers. I am twenty-five years old. I work for Alexander Collins. I am the commander of the Silver Guardians. I am the Quantum Ranger-'

The voice was growing even more agitated.

_Well, now that we have that established…_

'I'm getting there you stupid program!' Eric shot back.

Suddenly, it was like the fog had lifted off his mind, everything was as clear as day.

'I remember!' he said in amazement, feeling relieved. Had he not been almost completely out of it from pain, he would have been more worried about his memory lapses. 'And to think, all you had to do was get me pissed off at you. What took you so bloody long?'

The voice only grumbled. Eric laughed, feeling infinitely better, despite all the pain his body was in.

_Well, now that you're thinking comprehensibly…_ the voice muttered.

Eric's surroundings slowly began to change. No longer was everything white. Now, he could see actual shapes and colors forming from the mist. He squinted and tried to convince himself that what he was seeing was real.

'Well, this isn't what I expected the Pearly Gates to look like…'

Instead of some picturesque scene with angels and cupids, cherubs and the like, or even a peaceful forest filled with tall trees, he found himself in a dimly lit computer room. Consoles and monitors hummed and beeped around him, giving the room a feeling of artificial life.

'I guess St. Peter's gone high-tech then.'

_Knock it off, you're not dead…_ The voice reprimanded him.

'That's not what it feels like,' he retorted, rolling his shoulder around to get the feeling back into it. The process was slow going.

"Believe it Eric," a familiar, superior-sounding voice said from a computer chair. Eric could have sworn there wasn't someone there the last time he'd looked. The chair turned around to reveal a person Eric was so not up to dealing with at the moment.

"What the hell? What're you doing here Alex?" Eric growled out loud, deciding he'd rather deal with Alex verbally than in a thought-to-thought conversation.

"I'm the one who brought you here, here being your subconscious," he answered, looking up from the computer screen to look the ranger over critically. "You look like three-day old shit."

"Oh, so now the ranger prodigy has a sense of humor. How long was I knocked out for?" Eric remarked snidely. "Tell me what the hell is going on Alex or I'm going to beat it out of you."

_Calm down Eric, _the voice coaxed him, _Alex will explain everything._

"He better get on with it then."

"I'm working on it Eric, it's not going to go any faster with you cursing at me. And in your current condition I highly doubt that you will be able to 'beat it out of' me."

"Whatever."

_Well at least we know you're back to normal._

"Right now Eric, you are in a hospital bed at the Silver Hills Hospital, you just got out of the operating room, where the doctors fixed your ribs and your various other maladies including a fractured ankle and a deep laceration on your arm. You're currently in a comatose state. Hopefully you'll wake up soon enough so you might relay this information on to your fellow rangers."

"What information? That my ribs are broken?"

"No, the information I have to give you about Psykincon and Wes." Alex sighed and Eric smirked, if he was going to come into his head, he was just going to have to put up with him.

_Eric, cut the crap, this is important._

"Thank you Clip," Alex said.

"You can hear her too?" the Quantum Ranger asked floored, all thoughts of the mutant menace and his and Wes' climatic battle driven from his thoughts. "Clip? Her name is Clip?"

"Sit down Eric, you look like you're going to fall flat on your face. Yes, I can hear her, only because I am manipulating your dreams enough so that I am able to. And I call her Clip because I'd rather not address her as 'Quantum Ranger cyber lobe implant program'" He smiled ruefully, "it rolls off the tongue much easier."

"So what is she really then? What's she supposed to do?"

"Clip was part of the original programming of the Quantum Morpher, it was supposed to be a guide to the person who unlocked it and help them through using the system for the first time. You remember when you first used the morpher? A voice told you what weapons to use to defeat Brickneck."

Eric thought back to the day when he had opened the QCB. He did remember a female voice telling him to use his defender. But, he reflected, it didn't sound like Clip did now. Back then it had sounded like any other mindless computer program.

_I heard that…_

Eric ignored her. "How is it that Clip went from a tutorial system to a sentient being inside my mind?"

"The techs that developed it aren't sure. Somewhere along the line, Clip was able to imitate the brain waves she was operating off of so well that she developed her own personality and identity. So far as I understood what they were saying anyway. Originally, she was only supposed to attune her programming to your mind so that she would be able to operate at your swiftest thought. Apparently the scientists never thought that it would work so well."

"So well is right. What am I supposed to do with another… person… and I use the term loosely… in my head? No offence to Clip, but I won't be a ranger forever."

"We will have to cross that bridge when we come to it. They assure me that it's not a problem that a few bouts of laser surgery can't correct."

Eric paled, but agreed that the matter was not the most pressing one on the agenda.

"So… what exactly are you here to tell me?"

"Wes' weakness."

* * *

"Doctor Moreau!" 

The aforementioned doctor turned at hearing his name and immediately noticed the confusion marring Nurse Campbell's features.

"What is it Serena?" he asked, stopping out of the way of bustling orderlies as they went about their business.

"Come see this," she said simply, ushering him into the room she had just came out of. It was, he noticed, the room where the Quantum ranger was recuperating after his last battle.

"What?-" he tried to ask, but she cut him off, gesturing to the heart rate monitor beeping over the man's head.

"Look!" she said, nearing hysterics, "that's not normal doctor! What am I supposed to do?"

He glanced at the screen, expecting it to be something that Serena, in her inexperience, had simply forgotten about.

He was wrong.

"Good lord," he breathed. Nurse Campbell clasped her hands in worry, his statement not bringing any reassurance.

The monitor was registering an accelerated pattern – but by all accounts that should be impossible. His injuries and the fact that he had just been released out of the operating room a few hours ago made it impossible that his heart rate was so high. There was no way that it could be so active, something must be wrong with the monitor, or made he was having a relapse. If that was the case, certainly there was SOMEthing he could be doing rather than simply standing there watching the line blip across the screen, over and over again.

It just wasn't possible. He reassured himself. Serena, for all her efforts, had the history of sometimes crossing the wires improperly… That must have been it.

But he was wrong.

His own heart nearly stopped when the Quantum Ranger's eyes flew open, beneath them a raging fire blazed. Serena collapsed to the floor, her knees unable to keep their strength up any longer.

The Ranger locked eyes with Doctor Moreau.

"Give me back my clothes," he said in a deadly calm whisper. "I've got some business I need to take care of."

* * *

_End chapter fifteen_


	18. Rules were meant to be Broken

Hey everyone! I know I've been a little bit delayed in getting this up – but it is extra long for your reading pleasure. I just started typing it out of the blue the other day (at 1:00 in the morning…) and it just finished itself. I was so amazed. I hope you all like it. Each of the pieces (you'll know what I mean when you read it,) were written on different days, so I hope that you find they flow as well I as think they do. As always – if you have any ideas or comments, feel free to send them to me. And as always, big thanks to **jffan, gianolla, **and **cmar** for all their reviews and thoughts. Major shout outs to cmar who has added me to her C2 community! I was honored!

Disclaimer – I do not own anything affiliated with Power Rangers, they belong to their respective rich people. Thank you.

And now, on with the chapter!

Satori B.

_**Chapter Sixteen**_

_Rules were meant to be Broken_

"Psykincon!" Ransik bellowed, as soon as the Nightmare mutant arrived at the prison. "Why didn't you finish them off? All you've done is given the rangers the opportunity to regroup!" To say that Ransik was livid would have been an understatement. After his discussion with Nadira, he had sat in smoldering anger for hours before the Nightmare mutant had decided to return.

Ransik did not enjoy waiting for his subordinates to report after a mission.

"Master, I am simply following through with your orders," Psykincon said with oily ease.

"I have no recollection of telling you to run from an unfinished battle!"

"I will crush the Rangers!" Psykincon cried raising his voice, the remark about running from a fight clearly striking a nerve. "I will make their defeat as painful and as drawn-out as possible, I will humiliate and **break** the rangers. I will have them begging me for oblivion, so that they might escape the hell I have created!"

"Ensure that you do," Ransik said coldly, his good eye glinting dangerously. "If you fail me you will know how it feels to beg for death, Psykincon."

If Psykincon was put off by his employer's words he made no indication.

"_I will not fail," _he vowed.

"You are dismissed," Ransik bade and turned back to the monitors in front of him.

"Master," Psykincon acknowledged, bowed shortly, and then swept from the room, his cloak of shadows twisting around his feet like a serpent.

'I WILL finish the Rangers, and then my future will be secured. Everything they have worked so hard for will never have existed. My realm will rule. And I will have dominion.' The mutant thought, opening another portal into the Nightmare Realm and leaving the Prison ship. 'I will rule, and the Rangers will be forced to endure my nightmares in limbo for eternity.'

His evil laugh filled the empty, dark space that was his dimension, and his eyes glowed a now very familiar bright shade of evil blue.

* * *

A dark figure stalked through the sleeping figures in the clock tower, taking care to pick a route though the blankets that would not make the ancient wooden floor creak with their weight. Slowly and silently, the figure reached the staircase. Glancing back at the sleeping rangers, all exhausted from a long day of waiting for news of Eric, or for Wes to reappear, the figure took a deep breath and headed down to the lower levels, pulling a hood their face as they disappeared into the shadows.

The figure paused once more at the door leading out of the Clock tower, one hand resting on the doorknob. Internally fighting a battle of wills, the figure remained motionless for a split second longer. Now resolved, the figure pulled the wire leading to the shop's bell away from the device, so that it would not sound when the door was opened, and vanished into the night.

'I'm sorry my friends,' Jen thought, running into the street and getting far enough away from the tower so that there was not even the slightest of chances of the others hearing her call upon her Vector Cycle. 'I won't involve you in this. I'll get him back, and then things will go back to normal.' She tried vainly to reassure herself that she was doing the right thing.

When Wes told her about his dreams, and the feeling that something was going to happen, she should have listened. Why had she dismissed his premonitions so easily? It wasn't as if she hadn't heard of stranger things. Did she really not trust him that much?

Shaking her head she dismissed that thought as folly. Wes could had told her that the sky would turn green and she would have believed him – if he had sounded as serious as he had that day at the cliff. Things had happened too quickly. If she had just been given one more day. If he had just confided in her one day earlier, then maybe… maybe… something could have been done.

_If..._

_Maybe…_

There was always a chance that things might have turned out differently, but there was no use dwelling on that now. Though the possibility of going back in time to ensure that Wes didn't fall into the hands of Psykincon did cross her mind, she knew there were rules in Time Force preventing it. 'Rules,' she scoffed, looking at the 21st century buildings flying by in a blur of grays and blacks as she sped by on her Vector Cycle. 'Rules were meant to be broken.'

As the leader of the recovery team meant to apprehend Ransik, she knew there were rules against going out on a mission without even alerting her team, but –

'Wes needs me,' she thought. 'Somehow he broke the spell holding him when Psykincon had him ready to kill me. Maybe if it happens again…'

With only a half-formed, highly dangerous plan and a strong, albeit smitten, heart to guide her, Jen followed the directions displayed on the Vector Cycle's dashboard that were telling where the signal from Wes' morpher was coming from. A helpful upgrade, though not as accurate as it could have been. She had a reading of a few blocks, and would have to narrow his location down the old-fashioned way, but she was prepared to work though the night.

Love does that sort of things to people.

Fortunately, her night would not be wasted poking about abandoned warehouses by the dockside.

Unfortunately, it was because Wes had found her.

It was as if he had materialized out of nowhere. Wes grinned and before she could even blink, he was before her. Jen didn't even have time to shout out, let alone morph into her garb as the Pink Ranger, as a blur of black, in the form of the hilt of Wes' sword came down hard on the back of her head.

"Sweet dreams, Jen," she heard him murmur before darkness enveloped her vision and she slumped, unmoving, into his cold embrace.

* * *

When Jen awoke the only thing she could see were numerous boxes and unmarked crates stacked around her. She was in some sort of warehouse. 'Go figure…' she thought as she struggled to recall what had happened. 'Everything always ends up in some abandoned warehouse…' Her memory quickly returned to her. Wes. Where was he? He had been the one to knock her out, she realized, a flame of ember flaring in her gut.

But, she reassured herself; it hadn't been HER Wes that had attacked her. It had been the creation of Psykincon, nothing more.

She sat up, her head spinning and a dull ache making itself known as she moved. There was definitely going to be a bump there tomorrow. She tried to touch the bruised area, but found, to her alarm, that her hands were tightly bound behind her back. Her ankles had been tied together, looped around a metal roofing column, so she couldn't have shifted from her position even if she hadn't been too dizzy to move. Jen resisted the urge to sigh in frustration. At least he hadn't gagged her…

"So the Sleeping Beauty awakes…"

Jen whipped her head around to face the offending voice and narrowed her eyes. It had been too much to hope that he wouldn't show up. At first she could only see the outline of the figure. He was standing in the open doorway, and the outside light was throwing strange shadows in her direction so she was unable to see more than a silhouette.

"I thought I might have hit you too hard, I see now that I didn't have the fortune."

The door was slammed shut, its metallic ring echoed through what sounded to be a very large space, it was a few moments before the sound completely faded away.

She noticed he wasn't in his new Ranger garb anymore, she couldn't quite recall what he had been wearing before he had smashed her over the head, she had been preoccupied at the time anyway. Instead he was now garbed in civilian clothes, the style being, of course, from the 21st century. He wore all black with traces of silver, just like his Black Knight uniform. His jeans were black as was his jacket, his shirt – a muscle shirt it looked to be – was mostly black as well, with a pattern in silver that Jen decided must be a dragon of some description. He black gem pendant completed his look.

It was nothing like something HER Wes would have wore.

Wes noticed her scrutinizing look.

"You like my new wardrobe choice? It's must less gaudy than the red I think."

Jen finally recovered her voice.

"What are you doing Wes?" She managed to keep most of the emotion out of her voice, though it was a difficult battle.

"What do you mean? What am I doing talking about clothes with you when you obviously have no fashion sense of your own? Pink is definitely not the color for you Jen, I think black would suit you much better – it's more slimming.

"Or do you mean, what am I doing tying you up in this warehouse? I have orders to not harm you until Master Psykincon gives the order. Then – THEN I get to have all the fun with you I want…"

Jen didn't like the way he had stressed the word fun.

"If you want we can get started on that now though Jen, I know it's not the most… romantic of locations… but I think we can make it work. How about it Jen?"

He came a bit closer to her; Jen resisted the urge to spit in his face if he got any closer. Instead she lashed out at him, all thoughts of withholding her emotions gone.

"You bastard! What have you done with the real Wes?"

Wes took her chin in his hands and smirked down at her, Jen tried to shy away from his touch. It was like he was frozen, there was no heat coming from his skin. Though she wasn't entirely surprised. It was likely his once open heart had frozen into a single block of ice.

"Jen, we've been through this. I am the real Wes."

She broke away from his touch, not a small feat when one can't move more than their upper body. And stared up into his ice blue eyes imploringly.

"No, you're not Wes. This isn't the real you, the real you would never betray us. The real you was warm…"

"How do you know this isn't the real me?" Wes said mockingly, "You know nothing about me."

"I know you're favorite cereal is Cocoa Puffs and you had to have Phillips smuggle them into the house for you so the chef would never see them and take them away from you." Jen said softly, thinking she might be able to coax the real Wes out of him again by bombarding him with memories. "I know you're afraid of centipedes and spiders. I know that if you could go back into your own past you would go back to your sixth birthday, before your mother died, so you could hear her sing happy birthday to you… I know you love the rain. I know so much about you Wes, it's like I've known you all my life instead of just these last six months…"

"Wes, please, come back to me." Her eyes shone with unshed tears. She wanted her Wes back, the Wes Collins who slept in till all hours of the afternoon, the Wes who teased her about her lack of cooking skills, the Wes who had confided in her and trusted her. The Wes she had fallen in love with but was too afraid to tell.

Jen looked up at him. He was frozen a few feet away from her, still looking down at her with one hand propped on the metal column she had been trapped around.

His expression faltered slightly. The mocking grin faded. Blue-green fought for dominance over ice blue in his eyes. And then – the real Wes was back in front of her again.

"J-Jen? I'm sorry… I-I can't stop him…" Jen felt her heart wrench watching him trying to keep control over the dark entity raging inside of him. He shuddered violently and bit back a scream. "P-Psy-kincon's comin' back Jen, you have to get out of here!" He took a long bladed knife from his belt and cut the restraints around her wrists. "Go."

"Wes… I can't leave you here…"

"I… AHHH!" The dagger dropped from his shaking hand and clattered to the floor. He clutched his head in agony, another scream ripped from his throat. "No not again…" he murmured. "I will not be a prisoner in my own mind! No!"

He screamed again. A black energy flared around him, growing in magnitude until it was like a black fire was raging about his body. The Jen found herself frozen to her place on the floor. She was losing him – again.

The energy faded, it was absorbed into his body, the last remnants of it faded into his eyes, making them seem surreal, with no difference between the pupil and the rest of his eye. Then he was gone. And the Black Knight had regained control. He noticed with some distaste about what his double had managed to accomplish when he had taken over. His eyes narrowed dangerously as he took in the slashed bindings. Jen felt herself subconsciously cringe away from him.

"The fool had more strength than I had given him credit for." He flexed his hands, as if he were settling back into the body, and cracked his neck dispassionately. "No matter. It will not happen again." The dark persona of Wesley Collins grabbed a hold of her now freed wrists and with a quick slash with the retrieved dagger in his other hand, he sliced away the ropes tied around the column. He wrenched her to her feet roughly. The world was spinning and she tried to clear her vision. The sudden ascent did no good to her injured head.

"What did you do to him?" she asked when she managed to form a coherent thought.

"He is tired, he has no energy left to try and take control again. He only had the strength for fighting me for so long. Whereas I have infinite power, he is weak. It was no battle. The only thing he had going for him was his desire to protect you," he looked at Jen appraisingly, "Noble – but not nearly enough to win against me. He will undoubtedly try again, but it is doesn't matter. You're time is drawing to an end. Now, Master Psykincon is coming, get to your feet, I don't believe you want to greet him on your knees."

* * *

End Chapter Sixteen

I know, it's not the cliffhanger you were expecting, don't worry there's still a few twists left. (Heh heh heh hehehehehe…)


	19. A Shot into Dark

Hello everyone… (looks around sheepishly…) Heh heh… I know I'm very late with a chapter, but this one was worth the wait. (In my opinion anyway, you might disagree…) I love this chapter. I hope you'll be able to figure out why.

Reviewer shoutouts are at the end of the chapter, thanks for sticking with me guys!

Satori B.

* * *

_**Chapter Seventeen**_

_A Shot into Dark_

Dawn sunlight was just beginning to creep in through the windows at the Clock Tower when a cry erupted from the loft.

"Jen's gone!" Katie exclaimed, shaking Trip and Lucas awake. "Wake up!"

Katie had, miraculously, been the first to awaken; something that had _never _happened before, and thus was the first to notice there was something amiss. She had turned opened her eyes to look across at the nest of blankets a few feet away from her to see that they were empty and her fellow female ranger was nowhere in the vicinity.

"What's going on?" Lucas slurred, eyes still half-closed, propping himself up on his elbow and looking like he had come off the loser in a fight with a tornado.

"Jen's gone!" she said enunciating it clearly, making sure to yell it extremely close to his ear.

It worked. He was awake.

"Maybe she just went out for a walk or something…" Trip said, though still sounded doubtful.

Katie shook her head, her wild hair flying every which way with an extreme case of bed head.

"I've already checked- her pajamas were hidden under her pillow and her Vector cycle's gone. Unless she was going out for a late night ride…" Katie let the statement hang in mid-air. They all knew that Jen wasn't one to take her Vector Cycle out for a spin even if she needed to think. She was more for going for a long walk or sitting in the window looking out on the city.

Jen was gone.

"You think she went to get Wes back?" Lucas said. He didn't have to ask, he already knew the answer.

"Yes," she replied grimly. "She must feel responsible for him being taken by Psykincon."

"That doesn't make any sense," Lucas argued. "Why would she think that?"

"I don't know," Katie said softly. "I'm worried. I don't know if she can get him back all by herself. Yesterday the only way we could catch a glimpse of Wes was when he was going to slice her in half… what is she going to do to get him back completely?"

Silence hung in the loft.

"Come on," Lucas said, rousing himself from his sleeping bag.

"What are we going to do?" Katie asked, standing up.

"I don't know. But we're not going to be any help if we're sitting here in our underwear, are we?"

"I'll try and get a lock on her morpher," Trip said, "you two can try the tracking system for the Vector Cycles."

Lucas nodded grimly.

For now, that was all they could do.

* * *

"I've got a lock on Jen's cycle," Katie announced to the remaining rangers.

"Good," Trip stated from his position at the picnic table, Circuit perched next to his arm. "I'm still trying to get the coordinates from Jen's morpher, but it seems to be shielded somehow, keeping me from getting a clear reading. I'm running a series of decoding programs on it, but it's taking me awhile. I haven't seen anything like this before…"

"Where's her cycle, Katie?" Lucas asked looking over her shoulder at the flat screen she had tracked the vehicle on.

"Warehouse district," she answered, double-checking the coordinates with an overlay of a map of Silver Hills.

"It's _always_ in the warehouse district…" Lucas muttered, running a hand through his hair, adding to its already thoroughly messed-up state. The blue ranger, surprisingly, didn't notice. "Why can't it ever be the gravel pits, or maybe a farm somewhere…"

"I don't think Silver Hills has all that many farms, Lucas," filled Circuit in helpfully. Lucas went back to murmuring under his breath.

"It's in the eastern sector, just a couple blocks down from where the battle was yesterday." Katie continued. She furrowed her brow in consternation, "why wouldn't they have moved from that area?"

"That is strange, Katie." Trip replied, confusion marring his expression as well.

"There!" she exclaimed, pounding on a key triumphantly, "I have her coordinates locked into my morpher."

"What're we waiting for then? Let's go get her!" Lucas grinned. "Trip, keep your program running, Circuit will be waiting here and will notify us when the results come in."

"Aye aye, Captain!"

Lucas shot the robotic owl a look of skepticism.

"He's been watching the cartoon network again," Trip mumbled in his ear as they bounded down the stairs. Lucas nodded minutely in response. Halfway down the stairs the trip morphed, coming out onto the bottom floor in full ranger garb. Calling forth their vector cycles, they sped off from the Clock Tower in the direction of Jen's cycle.

* * *

"Master Psykincon, the other Rangers are on their way."

"Good, our plan is progressing perfectly, Master Ransik will be most pleased," a sadistic grin split his shadowed face in two.

Jen took the scene in, her mind racing, trying to think of a way to warn her friends of the trap they were waiting to spring. She didn't know what it was exactly, but she knew that the moment her friends arrived to save her, they would quickly fall into Psykincon's clutches. She frantically looked at her surroundings once more, at the same time assessing her situation.

She was in an abandoned warehouse. Which raised the question of just how many abandoned warehouses the city actually had… This one was different than the one where Wes had captured her. It was smaller and this one was completely devoid of any materials. There were no crates, no huge metal containers, and no ceiling supports. She surmised the last point was an advantage to her; at least this time they couldn't tie her feet around one. There were no windows, skylights or any other sort, that the Rangers could burst in through. The only way in or out was the garage door or the smaller single person door beside it at the front of the building.

'Unless they decide to blow out a wall…' Jen thought wanly.

At the moment she was being held roughly by the Dark Knight. Her wrists were, thankfully, the only things bound. After she had tried to fly at Psykincon, they decided the restraints would be beneficial at keeping her out of their hair. Jen had to kick herself for that one. If she had been able to wait for a more opportune moment, she might have been able to make more headway in her escape than the three feet she had managed the time before.

She completed her survey feeling even more depressed than the last time. Things were definitely not looking up for her.

"Knight, I think you should have our… guest," Psykincon nearly spat the word out, clearly remembering the attack she had tried to make on him earlier, "prepared for her friends arrival."

"Of course, Master Psykincon," the Dark Knight's eyes glowed with a special malevolence. "I shall have her put into position."

The Nightmare mutant nodded and shot his hand forward. With a snap of his wrist, a portal made entirely of shadows had appeared out of nowhere to float in the air in front of the trio.

"Make sure she is… comfortable…" Insinuating for her to be anything but.

"Yes, Master." The Dark Knight bowed his head and roughly pulled at his captive, getting her to follow him into the portal. Jen tried to fight back, tried to dig her heels into the concrete floor so that she would not have to follow him into the swirling abyss, but his unnatural strength had the battle over quickly. The Dark Knight easily picked her up, carrying her like a sack of potatoes, though this sack of potatoes was fighting his actions with unrestrained fury.

"Put me down, you bastard!" she screamed in his ear.

The Knight remained unflinching, but Jen did not let up in her endeavors. Before she could blink she was transported to the dark, life-sucking dimension of the Nightmare Realm.

* * *

"It looks just like every other warehouse here…" Lucas muttered, jumping off his vector cycle and flipping the kickstand down in one fluid motion. "Are you sure that this is the one Katie?"

"Positive. Her vector cycle should be… there it is!" She pointed to behind a set of dumpsters lined up alongside one wall of warehouse that had certainly seen better days. There, behind the rusty containers that also looked like they were on their last legs, was the handlebars from something that definitely did not belong there.

The three rushed over to the trash bins and confirmed that it was indeed, Jen's vector cycle.

"So she's in there then?"

"Unless they decided to hide the bike outside of another fleapit," Lucas said, pulling at his gloves unnecessarily. "This has got to be a trap."

"It's way too easy," Katie agreed.

"How about it Trip, are the signature readings from her morpher coming from there or are we being set up?"

"I still don't know, the readings were inconclusive, there was some strange energy field blocking them. The closest range I could get out of them was a circular area with a twenty-five mile radius."

His two fellow rangers cringed.

"That's not going to help," Lucas remarked.

"So what do we do know?" Katie wondered out loud. "Have you tried a mental scan, Trip?"

"I picked up life signs, but no positive identification on what it could be. From what I can tell, there was a dramatic decrease in life energy a few moments ago."

An air of unease settled around the company.

"It's definitely a trap," Lucas said.

"But if the life signs have decreased… what if?"

"We're not going to think like that, Katie." Lucas took a moment to think on the situation. "The only way in is through either of those two doors there… Unless…" He looked at his friends, not even his visor could hide the devious smirk on his face.

"We don't go in through the doors," Trip finished brightly.

"Exactly. Here's what we do…"

* * *

Few things can be likened to the sound of a tractor trailer being ran at, full-throttle, by another tractor trailer, complete with folding metal, screeching brakes and sparks flying.

Three vector cycles crashing through the side of a warehouse comes pretty damn close.

* * *

"Katie! Trip! Someone tell me what's going on!" Lucas yelled, looking at his surroundings.

"I don't know," came Trip's voice over his morpher, sounding vaguely panicked, Lucas noted. He was right behind the alien in that sentiment.

"Guys, I can't see you!" Katie cried.

Lucas looked around him again, but it was still the same sea of nothingness. The only light in the place was surrounding him, as if he were glowing. The ocean of blackness they had found themselves in the moment they crashed through the warehouse wall.

"Calm down, both of you. We need to go at this logically," Lucas said, trying, for the better of his teammates, to keep a level head too. There would be nothing to gain if they all started panicking. "Katie, Trip, what do either of you see?"

"Nothing."

"Same here."

'Not good,' Lucas thought. "Do you have the cycles with you?"

"No, mine disappeared the moment we busted through."

"Yeah, and there's no debris from the crash either."

He had noticed that. Something was definitely wrong here. It had to be Psykincon's doing.

"Alright," he said, breathing in deeply, thinking quickly. "Alright… Trip get the morphers to lock in on one another, we'll use those to meet at the –"

Suddenly, his ranger uniform disappeared in a flurry of shimmering blue sparkles. At the same time, his morpher cut out.

"Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit." He intoned, working at the device feverishly, trying to get it back online. "I thought the Time Force techs called these things fool-proof…"

"Ah, but they had no way of preparing them against **ME**, Blue Ranger…"

Lucas looked up from his morpher to see a swirling mass of shadows coalesce into a human-like figure.

"Psykincon…" Lucas growled, falling into a defensive position. Psykincon looked down at him and laughed.

"Pathetic Ranger," he tutted, shaking a finger at him, "it's not me you're going to be fighting…"

"Where are my friends? Where is Jen, and Wes?"

"Where you're going, it's not going to matter."

"Where. Are. They?" Lucas said slowly, stressing each syllable.

"They same place you're going Blue Ranger," He said calmly. Psykincon's eyes began pulsating with an icy blue light as he walked up closer to the Blue Ranger. Lucas found himself unable to move, some invisible force was holding his feet to the floor. "Your worst nightmare."

The floor, or at least whatever Lucas had found himself standing on, opened up beneath him. He was falling through darkness. Until finally, he hit something with enough force to rattle his teeth – and every other bone in his body.

He found himself in a very familiar place.

His racecar.

In the thirty-first century.

"What the hell are you trying to pull, Psykincon?" he yelled, knowing that the mutant was watching him from somewhere. He looked out the front window to see the red lights counting down on the start clock. A race was about to begin.

"PSYKINCON!"

Lucas looked out his side window; he saw a familiar jumpsuit, in a familiar car, with a very familiar face behind a tinted visor sitting in the driver's seat.

The lights were flashing yellow; the drivers were revving their engines…

"Kana?"

"Welcome to my Nightmare Realm…" came the mutant's disembodied voice.

The light turned green and Lucas' car shot forward after a few moments delay.

But he hadn't even hit the gas pedal.

"God no…"

_End Chapter Seventeen

* * *

_

Shoutouts!

Satori B would like to thank -

pink b You think he's almost back, eh? ... (evil laugh)

PRTFCSI It's always nice to hear that someone thinks your story is awesome, I'm glad you found my story, and doubly glad that you reviewed!

cmar Thanks for sticking with me! You've been here from the beginning. And if you think the last chapter was a cliffie...

Giannola My best chapter yet, eh?(swells with pride) Gosh, you guys are so nice! Stay tuned for the next chapter, I think you'll like that one too...

jffan Betray Ransik hmmm... sounds like a good idea, maybe I should through that in too ;)

white time ranger here's the latest chapter, I hope you enjoyed it! The next one's on the way.

* * *

Just so you know, the next chapter's pending title - "Enter the Nightmare Realm." Remember though, that's still in the planning stages...

Satori B


	20. Enter the Nightmare Realm

Sorry it's so late guys! I got caught up in school and cadets, but know that they're both (almost) done, I've got more time to finish this. My goal is to get it done before I get to camp, but I'm pretty sure that I'll have her all done before September. If I don't, you can beat me... but you'll have to catch me first!

Enjoy the chapter! Thanks to my reviewers! It means a lot to see that you're sticking with me. Thanks to Lindsay, again, for getting on my case!

Well, get ready for it...

Satori B.

_**

* * *

Chapter Eighteen**_

_Enter the Nightmare Realm_

"WELCOME RACEFANS, TO THE ANNUAL "RACE FOR TIME"!" the race park's loudspeaker blared an ongoing commentary for the thousands of screaming spectators. "AS YOU KNOW, ALL THE PROCEEDS FROM TODAY'S TICKET FUNDS WILL GO TO THE SILVER HILLS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL."

It was the same race.

The race where he had first met Kana.

The race where…

"No… this is all a trick."

He didn't even have his hands on the steering wheel, yet the car was flowing 'round the turns as if they were being guided by his steady hand. He was reliving the race.

But why?

Lucas tried pulling the emergency brake, but it wouldn't move for him. Likewise he tried to gain control of the car, to try and guide it into the pit, but the wheel was locked. It had a predetermined course, and he now realized where that course was going to lead him.

And if he had read Psykincon's cryptic words properly, he knew the race wasn't going to end with him as the last person crossing the finish line.

He remembered this race clearly now, with each turn he took, with every meter he gained, then lost again because he had been so enthralled with Kana's visage, he remembered it more clearly.

No, the race wasn't going to end with him crossing the finish line and the Boss-man simply chewing him out for an hour or two on being distracted by every pretty pair of goo-goo eyes he saw beneath a helmet.

This was Psykincon's game.

He wasn't going to cross the finish line at all…

At least, not alive anyway.

* * *

"Katie! Trip! Someone tell me what's going on!" Lucas' voice came through Trip's morpher clearly, as if he were right beside him, but his fellow ranger was nowhere to be seen.

"I don't know," Trip called back, noting that he was starting to sound vaguely panicked he began taking deep cleansing breaths. Now was not the time to panic, not when Jen needed their help. And Wes as well, for that matter.

"Guys, I can't see you!" the Yellow ranger's voice came across his morpher, in a situation like this, Katie's great strength was practically useless, and the realization of that was unnerving, Trip knew. It was the same thing he experienced sometimes when his psychic powers weren't coming through properly.

The green-haired ranger chanced a mind sweep in the blank expanse of nothing the three of them had found themselves in, but it picked up nothing. But he had learned something at least; there were no living organisms in the near vicinity. The entire place was barren of anything living, the only readings he came up with were echoes of his own energies, rebounding back to him. It was disturbing that the morphing technology could pick up the other rangers signals, yet his psychic sense could not – by all logical explanations, that shouldn't be so.

"Calm down, both of you. We need to go at this logically," Lucas said again, "Katie, Trip, what do either of you see?"

"Nothing."

"Same here," Trip agreed.

He thought he could hear a note of disgust coming from Lucas' end after the two had answered, but the Blue ranger continued on. "Do you have the cycles with you?"

Trip accessed his computer visor and scanned for any heat sources, if his cycle was anywhere close to him, he would be able to get a reading from it, again, there was nothing to show for his endeavors. "No, mine disappeared the moment we busted through."

"Yeah, and there's no debris from the crash either."

"Alright," Lucas said, his voice betraying a note of worry now, Trip deduced that he had realized something and didn't want to share it with the other two quite yet. "Alright… Trip get the morphers to lock in on one another, we'll use those to meet at the –"

A line of static cut Lucas' transmission off.

"Lucas? Lucas!" Trip tired the communication line again, and scanned the output data for irregularities, but he could gather nothing from it. Lucas' morpher had just suddenly disconnected.

"Trip?" Katie said, quietly, tentatively, "Trip, are you still there?"

"Y-yeah, Katie," the alien answered after a moments pause. "I can't reach Lucas."

"Neither can I… Trip, what's going on?"

The green ranger looked about him in worry, fear making its presence known in the pit of his stomach. Something definitely was wrong here. He could feel it. In the dark void surrounding him, his empathic sense was telling him something was coming, something dark, and unquestionably evil.

Something familiar.

"Trip? What's going on? Trip?" Katie's voice was growing frantic on the other end of his communication link. Trip took a deep breath and focused on the growing feeling of dread.

"Katie. I need you to calm down."

"Trip-"

"Katie, calm down. Something big is coming, but you need to focus. My communication link is going to cut out in a second, but-"

Before he could complete his warning to the yellow ranger, his green ranger uniform disappeared in a flurry of energy, leaving him cut off from Katie.

"Clever Xybrian, I had almost forgotten about your powers of perception."

"Psykincon." From Trip's left, a mass of shadows grew from the floor and formed the looming figure of the Nightmare mutant.

"You would have ruined my game by giving it away to the Yellow Ranger." Trip made no reply, but shifted his body to face him. "I couldn't have let you do that."

"Where are my friends?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Psykincon's eyes started to glow with a cold, blue light. He held out one, shadowy arm to the green ranger, who shied away from the diminishing space between the two of them. Trip tried to move his feet, to back further away from the mutant, but found his muscles resisting.

"What…"

"Is is only now you are finally realizing who holds the power here? Your puny psychic tricks are nothing compared to what I am capable of here – in my realm.

"Now, I think you have some friends waiting for you."

The mutant saw the hope register in Trip's eyes, he _felt_ it emanate from him and get swallowed up by the dark energies in the Nightmare realm.

"No, stupid fool, not those friends…" the mutant's face split into a grin. "Your… other… _friends_," he said, adding a sneer to the final word.

Trip's blood ran cold.

"No…" Fear coursed through his body, knowing what he would have to face.

The floor opened up from beneath him and Trip plunged into an even more total darkness than before.

"NO!" Trip screamed as he fell.

Space opened up beneath him and he hurtled through blackness. It lasted for only a few moments, but it was more than enough to bring his stomach to his throat. Soon enough, Trip found himself in a familiar place. 

The colour and movement was enough to bring back floods of memories. He looked about, and all he could see was an ocean of bright green hair. He looked up at the silver buildings surrounding him; everything was the same as he remembered.

The familiarity should of comforted him, but, knowing what came next Trip could only feel a foreboding sense of fear, and the pain that was about to assault him.

Then the silence hit him – not a lack of sound, but the lack of mental feedback. The constant buzz he was so used to getting on Earth was gone. The sound of other people's thoughts skimming on the surface of their awareness, their emotions, their auras flavoring what he received from each and every person he encountered…

All that, was gone.

He could hear nothing.

Trip tried to reach out, he focused his powers, but he was blocked by some invisible force.

He was home. On his own planet… where his diminished mental abilities were overshadowed by even the youngest toddler.

He felt the mocking stares from the passerby as they sensed his emptiness. They knew there was something wrong with him… that he wasn't like them… he didn't fit in with his own kind.

In a burst of anguish and desperation, he tried with all his mental prowess to try and communicate with someone, anyone…

But it went unheeded. His fellow Xybrians continued onward, engaging in mental conversation with the person next to them, or a city away. No one bothered helping the silent man hunched over on a street corner. They gave him wide berth and looked down at him in superiority.

Why bother with him? He wasn't like them. He didn't belong.

No one could hear him.

He was alone…

Isolated…

_Welcome home._

* * *

_End Chapter Eighteen_

Heh heh.. please don't hate me...

Til next chapter...

Satori Blackthorn


	21. A Show of Strength

Thanks for waiting so patiently guys! I have a week until I go to camp and to say that I'm nervous would be a complete understatement. As it's a six-week course, you can expect a lull in posting, but I'll try my darndest to post another chapter in the next seven days. I hope you'll stick with me 'till we finish with this tale. We're coming very close to the end! Please review, I hope to see some kind notes from everyone when I check my inbox in August!

Disclaimer - No I do not own the Power Rangers, as cool as that would be.

Signing off,

Satori Blackthorn

_**Chapter Nineteen**_

_A Show of Strength

* * *

_

As Trip looked around he remembered, painfully, all the years he had spent on his home planet, wishing he could be anywhere else. Everyone he encountered had more psychic powers than he did… He could never measure up to people his age.

And everyone knew it too.

Taunting voices rang in his ears, from classmates, his family, even people on the street.

"He might as well have his gem removed, the amount of good it does him…"

"Who does he think he's kidding?"

"Only _real_ Xybrians can play with us…"

"It's too bad about your son, it's not your fault…"

Their words were like daggers straight to his heart. Trip had been ecstatic when he had been accepted to Time Force Academy for training. The first Xybrian to ever join the ranks of Time Force.

Of course, the honor was lost on his family.

"Well, if you can't succeed here, you might as well go somewhere else…"

He had made something of himself, and among the other, non-psychic races, he had actually made some use of his mental power.

But now he was back among his people.

Outclassed,

Overpowered,

Overwhelmed.

He looked around him, seeing his fellow Xybrians go on in their everyday lives, happily communicating with anyone and everyone, he felt sick.

Why did he have to be different? What he would have given to be just like everyone else…

"It's not fair…" he whispered, crawling into a dark alley between two tall buildings, "It's not fair…" His voice drifted off, unnoticed by anyone.

* * *

"Katie! Trip! Someone tell me what's going on!" Katie could hear Lucas clearly, a lot clearer than she should have been able to. The morphers never worked so well, unless the Rangers were in close vicinity of each other. And from the looks of things, the other Rangers were nowhere to be seen.

"I don't know," she heard Trip call.

"Guys, I can't see you!" Katie started panicking; realizing there was something far more sinister than what had appeared to them moments before. This definitely wasn't the inside of an old warehouse, and there were no signs of Jen or Wes anywhere. Even more disconcerting, there were no other signs of life as far as her eyes could see.

"Calm down, both of you. We need to go at this logically," Lucas said again, "Katie, Trip, what do either of you see?"

"Nothing," she answered quickly, though still looked around again, just to ensure herself again that what she was saying was true. The darkness was starting to seep into her; she could feel it fighting its way into her skin, permeating through her bones. It was cold, but it didn't make her shiver, or want to rub her hands together. It was an intangible force. And it was sucking all the warmth and happiness from her very being.

"Same here," Trip agreed.

"Do you have the cycles with you?" The Blue Ranger asked.

There was a pause, but she heard Trip's puzzled voice come through, "no, mine disappeared the moment we busted through."

"Yeah, and there's no debris from the crash either," Katie noted. The fact was a pertinent one. If there was still any doubt they weren't in the warehouse - that cinched it. Now the question was, where were they exactly, and how did they end up there?

"Alright," Lucas said, his voice betraying a note of worry now. Katie squirmed in place, knowing something was up with their second in command. "Alright… Trip get the morphers to lock in on one another, we'll use those to meet at the –"

Lucas' words were cut off by the sound of static coming through Katie's – and she presumed Trip's – morpher.

"Lucas? Lucas!" Trip sounded unsettled.

"Trip?" Katie said, quietly, tentatively, "Trip, are you still there?"

"Y-yeah, Katie," the alien answered after a second's pause. "I can't reach Lucas."

"Neither can I… Trip, what's going on?"

The knot of worry that had been growing in Katie's gut seemed to expand thrice the size it had been with every moment Trip didn't answer. Panic and fear had never been emotions Katie had had to deal with on a regular basis. Growing up she had always been relatively reckless. She was always the first one to charge into a situation head first, without fully knowing what was going on. There was never any need for thought. With her super-strength she could get herself out of any sticky situation. The younger children had always looked to her for answers to their bullying problems, and Jasmine had gone through a stint of less than stellar choices of boyfriends. Katie had been glad to help them out.

But now…

This was definitely not some punk stealing change from kids smaller than he was. This wasn't a persistent boyfriend Katie would have to encourage to never call again.

This was emptiness.

And silence.

Katie hated silence.

"Trip? What's going on? Trip?" Katie said, unable to stand Trip's lack of feedback.

"Katie. I need you to calm down."

"Trip-"

"Katie, calm down. Something big is coming, but you need to focus. My communication link is going to cut out in a second, but-"

Another burst of static cut off whatever Trip was going to say.

"Trip? TRIP! Come on, Trip answer me! Trip…"

Now Katie was alone. And if there was something Katie hated more than silence, it was that.

At a loss for anything else to do, she began to run, looking for something – _anything_ - that would give her an idea of where she was and why the other's morphers had cut out so suddenly.

'Psykincon,' she thought venomously, 'this is all your doing. Just wait 'til I get a hold of you…'

Katie ran, but the landscape, if one could even call it such, never changed, it just continued on, a vast ocean of darkness. The yellow ranger felt her muscles start to burn, but she kept pushing forward, knowing that if she stopped, she would never be able to start running again, and would give in to her despair.

Her friends were gone. What was she going to do?

Feeling warm tears make tracks down her face underneath her helmet, she pushed herself even harder. She would find a way out of this godforsaken place. Even if she had to run to the ends of the earth to do so.

"What are you running from Ranger? Does your uniform color suit you that well, Yellow Ranger? I thought you were an animal who would go down fighting, not running away scared."

A familiar mass of shadows appeared from some sort of portal in front of her and Katie skidded to a stop.

"Psykincon…" she growled dangerously. The mutant was unaffected by her anger.

"You can't escape from here, Yellow Ranger," he stated mockingly, "This is the Nightmare Realm, powered by fear, it is endless, you can not simply run to the end of it."

Katie felt something snap within her. "Well then, I guess I'll just have to get out of here through you!"

She had been so close to heading home. There weren't many mutants left to capture. Ransik was down to his last few cronies. Soon she would be seeing her mother and father again… But then **he** had to go and wreck everything she and the others had worked so hard for. And now the others were gone. Wes was brainwashed, Jen was kidnapped, and Trip and Lucas were somewhere in this Nightmare Realm. Trapped like rats.

Just like Katie.

And wouldn't you know it, Katie hated rats too.

"A physical attack, Yellow Ranger? You really think I will let you lay a hand on me? Here? The very thought-"

A resounding smack cut Psykincon's rant off halfway.

"Shut up, Psykincon. Shut up and fight me!" Katie yelled, and lunged at the mutant again. Shocked that the woman had actually dared to punch him – and blown away by the fact that she still had hope left in her soul to fight back – Psykincon said nothing. He only narrowed his eyes and melted his body into the shadows lacing the floor.

Katie slid to a halt and listened, ears pricked, for any sign of the Nightmare mutant's return. She didn't have long to wait.

"I think it is time you cooled off Yellow Ranger, though I will admit our dance was enjoyable, I have always preferred taking the lead."

Katie whirled about, to find a fully reformed Psykincon standing inched behind her, his eyes blazing icy blue in rage. She drew back to hit him again, but the mutant beat her to it. A swift hit to her gut threw her back and she fell, clutching her throbbing stomach. Her Ranger uniform dissolved around her.

'With just one hit…' Katie thought through her pain-laced mind, 'with just one punch he's made me demorph…'

"Now you understand my power… This is MY realm. I control everything here. I hold the power of the entire world's fear. All their despair, all their anger, all their negative feelings – it belongs to me! You are nothing, Yellow Ranger, although…" He glided over to her, his feet, it seemed, sunk into the ground with every step, and knelt down in front of her face.

Reaching a shadowed hand to her tear-stained cheek, Katie tried to recoil back from his touch, but found she was frozen in place. He drew a cold, lifeless finger down her skin and she felt her stomach rebel. His touch was so cold… it was unnatural. He leaned his face closer to her. Katie fought with all her might to move away, but still found herself unable to do more than blink.

"Although I have greatly enjoyed this affair… your fear… your despair… is certainly enough to make me yearn for more… I feel you would be better suited to a little… solitary time…

"NO!" Katie screamed, feeling the ground opening up beneath her.

"NOOOO!"

Katie was still screaming as she fell.

* * *

End Chapter Nineteen 


	22. An Odd Conversation

Well, here you go everyone! I said I'd get this out before camp! And here I am ... 11 hours before my flight is due to leave. I hope you like it, it's probably chock-full of typos... so sorry, but I hope you like it nonetheless.

Until my return then!(August 20th...)

I am,

Satori Blackthorn

* * *

Chapter Twenty

An Odd Conversation

* * *

"Excuse me, ma'am, are you alright?"

Katie struggled to open her eyes against the bright light beating down on her eyelids.

"Ma'am? Are you okay?"

"What…" she mumbled. Katie felt her body go rigid, this wasn't the Nightmare Realm… The air had lost the oppressive reek of despair and age. Above her she could see leaves blowing in the wind, and light from the mid-day sun was filtering down on her, warming her skin. The sensation felt wonderful. It was so different than the cold emptiness…

Slowly, she pushed herself so that she was sitting on the grass and looked around in wonder, appreciating the beauty and color around her.

She had escaped the Nightmare Realm.

But how? Had Psykincon's attempt at getting rid of her failed so badly that he sent her _here_? Did he really have that much power? He couldn't have failed, then. Katie mused. He definitely wasn't that stupid.

How? What happened? What did he have to gain from sending her back here?  
The last thing she remembered was falling. Psykincon had opened the floor beneath her and she had fallen. How had she ended up lying down with bugs crawling over her in the middle of a yard?

A very familiar yard…

"Ma'am, I'm going to call the paramedics…" the voice was speaking again, it sounded nervous, and familiar, Katie noted, a half-smile found its way to her features. It really wasn't natural hearing her so nervous.

"No, I'm fine. Thanks for your help," Katie answered, starting to stand up. She realized, happily, that she wasn't injured in any way; the fall hadn't done anything to her, surprisingly. The only thing she could feel was a bruise forming on her stomach from where Psykincon had punched her and forced her to demorph.

"A-alright then…" her rescuer said, at a loss of anything better to say.

Katie had to struggle to hold her laughter in. Restraining herself from whirling around to see the priceless look on her face, Katie forced her body to turn slowly. She didn't want to find her rescuer wasn't who she thought it was.

But, she reasoned, it couldn't possibly be anyone else…

Katie knew this yard; she had sat beneath this tree reading during many hot afternoons. She knew the house; everything looked the same as it had when she left months ago. She knew the voice of the girl who had rescued her.

It had to be her… It just HAD to be…

Hope swelled in her chest, though she tried to suppress it. Just in case this was some sort of hoax. Just in case Psykincon was playing with her. But it was so hard. She was home! After so long… she was home! Everything was the same as she left it. After all the fighting, all the battles, all the hardships, the sweat and tears, here she was. Home.

"Jasmine… Jas…"

Katie finished her turn and found herself facing her rescuer, her sister. Her hair was a little bit longer, and she was wearing some new outfit, but it was definitely her little sister. The yellow ranger felt her smile widen almost to the point of pain. Her sister was right here in front of her, after so long apart… She had so much to tell her about the 21st century! Jas would love to hear about all the strange things the people did, without the superior technology that the people of her time took for granted.

Then Katie's grin began to fade, something wasn't right.

The look on her sister's face, the one she had been expecting – a look of surprise mixed with jubilation – was not there. In its place was an expression of confusion.

"H-how do you know my name?"

Katie's heart froze and dropped to her stomach. "Wha-what…"

"Who are you?"

* * *

"_Make sure she is… comfortable…"_

"_Yes, Master." The Dark Knight bowed his head and roughly pulled at his captive, getting her to follow him into the portal. Jen tried to fight back, tried to dig her heels into the concrete floor so that she would not have to follow him into the swirling abyss, but his unnatural strength had the battle over quickly. The Dark Knight easily picked her up, carrying her like a sack of potatoes, though this sack of potatoes was fighting his actions with unrestrained fury._

"_Put me down, you bastard!" she screamed in his ear. _

_The Knight remained unflinching, but Jen did not let up in her endeavors. Before she could blink she was transported to the dark, life-sucking dimension of the Nightmare Realm._

This place, she decided, was hell. Or at least, what hell would be like to a blind man with no nerve endings to feel heat.

It was so empty and vast.

Looking around in all directions she could see naught but blackness.

"I thought you were just going to leave me here?" she said snappily from where she had been pacing back and forth only moments before.

"I'm waiting," came Wes' reply. He was lying down on the ground, or what she surmised was the ground, seeing as how she couldn't make it out.

"Waiting for what, exactly?" she bit back, unable to hold her irritation back. This… 'waiting' was killing her.

"For you to snap and jump me," he grinned cockily, "I figure it won't be very long now."

Jen held her breath and counted to ten silently. 'This is not Wes, this is not Wes…' she repeated. This version of Wes was far stronger and would not even feel it if she slapped him for being such a… guy.

"I know what you're thinking," he continued loftily.

"Oh, do you?"

"Of course I do," he said, scraping his fingernails with a knife taken from somewhere on his person. "You're thinking that I'm not really Wes, so it would be even better than all those times you imagined-"

SMACK!

Powerful or not, sneaker being hurled with the force wielded by an angry woman, and from that close proximity would hurt anyone.

This place, and this company, she amended, was hell.

"Bitch…" she heard him mumble. She ignored him. Jen fought the urge to run as far away from him as possible, but after having tried that and finding that he never got any further away, gave up that plan.

"So if you're that angry with me I don't suppose you'd be interested in finding out what your friends are up to?" he continued, still in that same lofty manner that made Jen want to pull his hair out.

The empty blackness was silent for a few minutes, the Black Knight hummed as he continued cleaning underneath his fingernails. Finally, Jen's curiosity and concern for her friends won out over her distaste of dealing with this thing that had taken over Wes' body.

"You know where my friends are?" she asked, grabbing her sneaker back from where it had ricocheted off his head and pulling it back on.

"Of course I know where your friends are…" he mimicked her tone an octave higher than what his voice was normally. The effect was laughable on the awe-inspiring, mystery-shrouded Black Knight.

Silence rang in the air around them again.

"Well?"

"Well, what?"

"Where are they!"

"You don't want to know."

"Of course I want to know! They're my friends and damn it, they're your friends too!"

"They _were_ my friends. I don't need them or you anymore," the Dark Knight said, his voice filled to spitting with venom. "I have everything I'll ever need, thanks to Psykincon."

"So you'll be ordered around by some mutant then," Jen replied leaning down to face level with him. At this point in time, she was so angry that she didn't give any thought to the fact that she was in more and more danger the closer she got to him. "You ran away from your father for trying to control your life but now you're willing to become the pawn of Psykincon? I don't know whether or not to call you a hypocrite or a coward," she hissed.

This set something off in the Black Knight's mind.

"Don't call me a coward…" he said, deadly calm, looking Jen straight in the eyes. "Don't even pretend to know me or my life. You know nothing about what I've been through."

"Wes…"

"Do you want to know where your friends are or not?" he asked.

Jen was silenced by her confusion. Why had he suddenly changed the subject? And why was he actually being… almost civil? This place must be doing something to him… Or maybe it was because Psykincon wasn't around… If only he would stay away long enough for her to get the real Wes out from the cage in his mind Psykincon had created for him…

"Yes," she answered cautiously.

"Fine," he sat up and braced his elbows on his knees. "Your friends are all living in their deepest fears. As you soon will be, when Psykincon gets back here."

Jen was quiet for a moment, to let the information sink in. Wes was silent as well, watching her expressions change as she thought.

"Why tell me this?" she said finally.

He shrugged. "I don't know. I feel like it." He must have seen the expression of hope flicker on Jen's face. "No, it's not because I like you anymore than before, I'm bored and there's not a whole lot of anything else to do around here. Well…" he shot her a sidelong look, "not anything that you're going to consent to willingly anyway…"

"Won't Psykincon-"

"He can go pound sand for all I care at the moment." Wes answered back darkly. "He shouldn't have left me here with nothing to do."

'Well,' Jen thought to herself, watching the almost pouting Black Knight as he pulled at a loose string on his shirt. 'He's as restless and has as short of an attention span as the old Wes. There's one similarity."

"Tell me about you," he ordered. "Since you know all about me," he continued mockingly, "it's only fair that I find out more about you."

Jen looked around, and seeing nothing more interesting than the proposition he offered her, sighed and sat cross-legged a few feet away from him.

"What do you want to know?"

"Anything…something interesting at least."

"Well… I like strawberry ice-cream…"

"I knew that…" he said impatiently.

"When I have time I like to jog…"

"I knew that too, think of something better…"

"Like what?"

He thought for awhile and Jen knew without a doubt that this was definitely the strangest conversation she had ever had. Beating out the one with Trip about what the inside of a toothpaste tube looked like frozen.

"What you dream about, what you wanted to do when you were a kid…"

"Well… I've always dreamed of becoming an artist…"

"Why?"

"Because I loved to paint when I was a kid, but everyone always said my horses looked like mushrooms with toothpick legs, so I gave up."

"Oh."

"Satisfied?"

"Not really," he answered bluntly. "What's your favorite memory? Where would you go if you could go back in time? What-"

"I've got one…" a cold voice interrupted.

Jen whirled around, her heart dropping with the temperature of the air around her. Her eyes narrowed as she saw a very familiar figure wrapped in shadows appear from the floor.

"Psykincon…" she growled.

"What are you afraid of?"

* * *

End Chapter Twenty


	23. Broken

Sorry it's so late guys… I really wanted to get it out before going back to school but I was so busy getting used to normal time zones and sleeping in past 600 in the morning. I hope you all like this chapter, consider it a back to school gift from me to you. Keep reviewing, I hope to break 100 by the end of the story, which, by last tally, is only four chapters to go!

I remain,

Satori B.

* * *

_**Chapter Twenty-One **_

_Broken

* * *

_

Jen awoke in a dark, empty place. With a start she realized she didn't know a few things;

How long she had been sleeping,

How she got to where ever she was and

Why she felt so comfortable.

She did, fortunately, recognize that she definitely wasn't in the Nightmare Realm. It had none of the soul-sucking, lethargic feeling the Nightmare Realm did. And instead of the echoing darkness there were distinct shadows of pieces of furniture set up around her. She could hear the humming of equipment coming from another room. Her breathing wasn't the only sound in the smaller, brighter space. This place wasn't the Nightmare Realm, this place was…

Home…

In the 31st century. She was home, in her apartment on the Time Force base. She bolted out of bed – which was where in fact she found herself, lying with her sheets in a tangle beneath her feet.

It was… unfathomable. She was back. This was definitely her apartment. The shadow to her right was from the lamp on her desk, the red one with a small chip on the metal shade where her neighbor's cat had knocked it to the floor when she had offered to look after it. Beside the lamp was the still form of a vase of dried flowers, placed there in an effort to brighten up the otherwise plain living-space. The petals looked long and sad with the dark shadows pulling down at them. She wondered at how she never noticed that before.

She was back.

Looking around, she noticed belatedly that the darkness was not complete, there was a thin ray of light falling across her feet from beneath the blind. Throwing off the few blankets that remained around her, she made her way to the window. Subconsciously she avoided the chair by the desk and the stack of manuals she piled by her dresser, at a loss of what else to do with them now that the exams were finished. Already knowing what sight was about to meet her eyes, she drew the blinds.

Flying cars with the early morning sunlight glinting off their polished surfaces zoomed around silently, following the one ahead of them to another trying day of work, or heading in the opposite direction, on their way home for some rest after the graveyard shift. Despite thinking that she was prepared for it, her knees nearly buckled. She really was back in her own time.

The question was, how?

And why?

Jen had no answer.

Seeing no immediate threat to her welfare, she took a moment to relax her racing heartbeat and took a closer look around her apartment. Nothing really had changed, so far as she could tell in the semi-darkness. Her bedroom looked the same it had the day she left for the mission in the year 2001. The letter she had been writing to her mother on the computer blinked back at her when she brushed her fingers over the screen to awaken it. A few case files lay strewn over the table in the tiny kitchen, where they had been haphazardly strewn after she had looked through them for hours on end without finding them any more interesting than when she had started. She looked down at herself she saw she was in her pajamas, which consisted of a pair of sleep shorts and an oversized Time Force gym shirt that belonged to Alex.

This was all so strange… How had she gotten here? Where was Wes? Where was Psykincon?

Glancing back at the text on the floating computer screen, she read through it. A strange feeling made its presence known as she read each paragraph. This wasn't the letter she had started, was it? It might have been a few months now, but she knew that the letter she had left on her computer had been full of reassurances that Ransik would be captured soon and that she was in good hands with Alex looking out for her…

This letter - she scanned over it quickly – this letter told of the capture and trial of the mutant…

Nothing about Alex 'dying'… of Nadira's ambush…

She wasback to the year 3000 – but not the day she left… This letter was dated a week after she and the other rangers had gone back to the past. As much as she wanted to deny it, the date in the top right corner of the letter was testament to that. She racked her brain, trying to think of what was going on.

"This must be a trick," she said out loud, her words startling her as they shattered the silence that had fallen thickly in the room. 'Maybe Katie and the others are home too…' she made a move to call them on the morpher, but found it wasn't there.

'Right…' she thought, mentally slapping herself on the forehead. The rangers weren't rangers anymore. There hadn't been any need to make them rangers, if everything had gone as planned.

Thinking back to Psykincon, she came to another revelation – Psykincon was definitely vindictive and evil enough to finish them off for good, why hadn't he just killed them instead of setting all this up? It wasn't a happy thought, but it was enough to make her think more, instead of letting her mind wander to the repercussions of her being back home.

'Of course,' she reminded herself, 'that's if he hasn't gotten to the others yet…' The grim thought spurned her into moving, a cold chill had made its way into her skin and staying in one place wasn't going to cure it.

She walked around, running her fingers along the counter and the wall, relishing in the familiar textures of everyday things she used to take for granted. Even the sight of her old-fashioned stove was enough to make her smile wanly.

A knock at the door startled her out of her reverie. Aware that she was still in her pajamas, she cautiously made her way to the door, resisting the urge to take a frying pan from its hanging place above the stove. She waited for the person to knock again before tentatively opening the door enough to peek out. A familiar set of blue eyes was staring back at her expectantly

"A-Alex… What are you doing here?" Jen asked, giving herself a moment for the surprise to register before opening the door a bit more.

"Jen, why are you still in your pajamas?" Alex asked, still as stoic and to the point as always. Though there was a light in his face that hadn't been there when he took command of the rangers from Wes back in the year 2001 and a tiny grin was even lifting the sides of his mouth. He looked, Jen realized, like he had before his death, before Ransik. Carefree, and happy – or at least as happy and carefree as Alex got…

'It's been a long time…' Jen thought unaware of Alex staring at her blank expression, 'since I've seen him at ease like this.'

"Jen?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing?" Jen asked guardedly, after she snapped out of her thoughts, not knowing what he was referring to. Deciding that mentioning she didn't know how she got back to her apartment would be a bad thing she kept that fact to herself. "I live here - I just got out of bed."

"Don't you remember what we're supposed to be doing today?" Alex asked, laughingly. "You're the one who insisted we go early this morning!" Jen's silence gave him an answer he surely wasn't expecting because he continued incredulously, "We're supposed to be picking out the bridesmaids' dresses this morning! How could you have forgotten? Kendra will be livid once she hears!" The joking tone in his voice was one she had definitely not heard in a long time, it reminded her of…

"Bridesmaids' dresses?" she repeated, what he said just sinking in.

"Dresses, gowns, whatever you call them. You have a fitting for your dress before that though. So you have to get dressed; I have a table booked for us at the Jade Café. Jen?"  
"My dress?"

Somewhere in all the thinking she had done on her being back in the year 3000, Jen had forgotten one very important thing.

"Yes, your dress, the one you picked out the last time we went in… Please tell me you haven't changed your mind, I don't think I could stand going through all of them again." Taking advantage of her shock her gently pushed the door open and took Jen's hand in his.

Jen felt her head moving down like an invisible entity was moving it on its own accord. She looked down at his hand and then at the hand he was holding. Her engagement ring caught the early morning light and reflected it back at her, mockingly, reminding what she had left behind.

"Alex, what are you doing? … I thought… I don't… I…"

"Jen, what's wrong? Are you feeling alright?"

Jen had forgotten one very, crucial detail. If she was back in the year 3000, and her and the other rangers hadn't gone back in time… she was very much still engaged to Alex. The problem was that now she knew…

She knew she didn't love him anymore.

And the one she loved… He was back in the 21st century…

Would have died not knowing her…

"Jen? Jen? What's the matter?" Alex asked, a note of worry evident in his tone. He grabbed on to her shoulders and leaned down to stare into her eyes worriedly. "Jen?"

Jen didn't notice the salty stream of tears making its way down her face, as she felt her knees buckle beneath her.

"Wes…"

* * *

Psykincon reclined in a mass of shadows, arranged with some of the magic he seemed to hold over every aspect of the Nightmare Realm, and watched the four trapped Rangers on four different mirrors. Seeing the last ranger succumb to helplessness as she realized her plight, he threw his head back and laughed.

"Ah, my Knight, what a delicious feeling! The taste of someone realizing their worst dream has become a reality! It is almost enough to make one such as myself dance in ecstasy!"

"Do me a favor and restrain yourself," the Dark Knight muttered back darkly from his post at the mutant's right hand. Every so often the Knight would glance at the mirrors with a strange shadow flitting across his features.

The mutant was silent for a moment and watched as Wes went through his routine of stealing a glance at each of the mirrors – his gaze lasting the longest on the one containing Jen racked with silent sobs – then as he would stare forward off into the distance, deep in contemplation as expressions of confusion and concentration would flitter across his face.

"Knight…"

"Yes, Master Psykincon?"

The mutant gave the human a sidelong look and gazed back into the mirrors. A neutral expression fell back onto Wes' face.

"Knight… do not tell me you have started to develop feelings for these people again."

"Of course not Master," the Dark Knight replied instantly.

'Too quickly,' the Nightmare mutant thought despondently. Waving a hand he dismissed the mirror portals and noticed the shift in his minions posture as he did so. Calling forward the dark crystal residing in the man's pocket, he levitated it through the air to rest in his waiting palm. 'It seems drastic measures must be taken…'

Glancing into the many facets of the powerful gem, he called forth all the spells of bonding and control he had learned in all his many years of traveling through the underground, places that would make even the mighty Time Force Rangers fear to tread.

"Why do you serve me Knight?" He asked absently, still feeding power into the crystal.

"You have freed my soul to the path of darkness," Wes intoned, as if quoting some ancient text. "You have given me power to do away with my enemies, with those who have mocked me and held me back from the true me." Beneath his words though, there was a quiver of some small uncertainty, as if the Dark Knight was having second thoughts.

"Yes," the mutant replied, "I have given you power beyond anything your mortal mind could imagine, and yet…" his blue eyes glittered dangerously, "you still disappoint me."

"Master-" the Knight tried to answer but was cut off with a sharp gesture from Psykincon and found that he could not form any words. Alarm filled him, and then anger. He settled for kneeling in submission at his Master's feet.

"You still fight the power of the crystal… How is that?" the mutant thought out loud. "I have given you all this power, you should be completely under my control… You remember why you came to this side? It was to rid yourself of weakness completely, was it not? You felt weak. You detested that feeling. That feeling of helplessness, of not knowing… And now you would go back to that.

"For what? For those five? For your _friends_?" he said the word with a sneer. "They don't understand you. They don't know what an empty life you've really had. With only a butler to keep you company, to raise you… A father who never cared about you… Only about the company and the legacy he was to leave behind… They don't know you… I am the only one who understands you… I know your emptiness… Why would you leave all this for a world of feelings and weakness?"

Wes, with his head still bowed, gave no answer, though with every word, he tensed noticeably. His knuckles, barely discernable against the smoke wafting above the floor, were bone white.

"You would go back to them?" Psykincon continued, though with these words he started siphoning the energy he had transferred to the crystal back to Wes. He sent the crystal to floating above the Dark Knights head, where it rotated and shimmered, reflecting dark beams of light and energy on and around the pair. "You would go back?" Energy melted down to the kneeling form, weaving around his arms and legs as it was absorbed into his chest. "They would not take you back my Knight."

More spells rained slowly down onto Wes, binding his mind and soul to the mutant before him. Psykincon felt as the ancient magic was absorbed into him and contaminated his already tainted soul. The magic brought power and strength, but also doubt and suspicion. Doubt against anything pure and good…

"They would alienate you."

More magic was absorbed, and now a telltale glow was starting to flare in the Dark Knight's eyes.

"They would never see you as their equal. They will view you as vile and disgusting. They will never take you back. The world is unforgiving. They don't want you back. Lucas, Katie, Trip, especially Eric – he will never forgive you, he will always resent you for everything you've done to him, and Jen. Jen will never look at you the same way. That light in her eyes she reserved just for you, will now be disgust and pity. Pity at the dark thing you've become. That light will be reserved for someone else. Alex? Eric? It doesn't matter does it? It's not going to be you… It will never be you."

The light flashed brilliantly and the energy was now fully absorbed into the darker Dark Knight.

"They will never accept you again," Psykincon said quietly. "You know where you belong."

The dark crystal floated down to the Knight, he held out a hand and the item fell into his palm where the interior flashed with the intensity of a thunderstorm. Emotionlessly, the Dark Knight put it back into his pocket and stood before his master. Silent, deadly and completely under the Nightmare mutant's control.

Psykincon looked over his work critically. Nothing short of death would break his control over the Knight. His will was completely bent to his master's whim and his soul was completely contaminated against anything to do with light and love.

"You belong here, my Knight," Psykincon grinned, and his grin widened when the Dark Knight made no sign he had even heard him.

* * *

End Chapter Twenty-One 


	24. Pulled In

_**Chapter Twenty-Two**_

_Pulled In

* * *

_

Lucas looked over to the car he was in the midst of passing; it was number 48, and driven by a guy he knew fairly well in the racing circuit. His name was Rex Waters, and he was going to crash into the right bound wall on lap twenty-two. Emile Banderez, of car number 21, was going to develop engine failure on the thirtieth lap and have to be pulled from his smoking car by the pit crew.

How did he know this, if he was only on lap thirteen?

Because he had already lived this race.

He had lived it, but this time was going to be different, if Psykincon had anything to do with it – and besides that he didn't think he had the strength to go through the ordeal again.

And he wasn't referring to the reaming out the Boss-man gave him after the race was done, or the perpetual awkwardness and embarrassment he had to face whenever he met Kana again in passing.

It was the wall of fire he would be trapped in, during the thirty-second lap that he knew he wasn't going to be able to make it through.

"No! Not again! I can't…" he cried to the silent car. Already he could feel his palms sweating through the racing gloves he always wore. Another wall of fire… Another intense wave of heat, suffocating him, stealing the breath from his lungs, slowly burning him from the inside out… "No! I can't!"

Ever since he had been a young boy he had been wary of fire. When he was five, his neighbor's house had caught fire, catching them inside and killing them while the rest of the neighborhood slept. The fear that the same would one day happen to his family never quite grew out of him. While other kids would experiment with matches, Lucas would quietly slide away, in fear of the dancing flame they held so carelessly in their small fingers. It wasn't anything he would ever admit to anyone, not even the other rangers, though he knew they were surely aware of it.

He would never admit it out loud but he knew, and now it would seem that Psykincon knew as well – and was using his weakness against him.

"I have to beat this… I'm stronger than this…" he tried to convince himself, steeling himself for the laps ahead of him.

Lap fourteen…

"It's only a memory," he repeated to himself. "Only a memory… A memory brought to life by Psykincon's illusions. Only a memory…" He repeated this mantra to himself over and over, trying in vain to push the images of flames reaching into the cockpit from his mind.

A sudden flash from his memory overpowered him. Before his eyes he saw the windshield enveloped in red, orange, yellow and blue flames, their fiery tongues reaching for the trapped ranger.

Lucas screamed, throwing his hands over his face to protect him from the imagined flames. Sweating, with silent tears leaving wet trails down his face, Lucas was lost in a panic-induced memory as the racecar followed the track around lap fifteen, that much closer to the real wall of fire that would soon come.

* * *

"It's not fair…" Trip repeated from his dark alley, where he had covered himself with old papers left for the wind to scatter, to protect him from the cold. Night had fallen over the planet Xybria, and he found himself alone. Pedestrians had long since wandered home and traffic had slowed to a single sky car every half hour.

The streets, though devoid of Xybrian life, except for one curled up under old parcel wrapping paper, were far from quiet. The alley hummed with strange noises from the surrounding buildings, indicating cooling systems, or heating systems, Trip was beyond caring. Every once in a while, rustling noises could be heard from behind him, where four-footed and winged scavengers would search the dumpsters in hope of finding another meal. Far above him, the distant sounds of jets, ships and other manner of air transportation could be heard making their way across the sky.

It was far from quiet, but for Trip the silence was deafening. Noises from creatures raiding the trash piles didn't concern him in the slightest. His mind was still straining to make out any sounds from his fellow Xybrian minds, straining so hard that the effort had left him exhausted and weak, though all his senses heightened, waiting for someone to hear something from the other telepaths that surrounded him. That was the only sound he wanted to hear – the only sound he would hear.

"Why can't I hear them?" he cried to himself, sending some of the more adventurous creatures scurrying back to where they came from, in fear of whatever had caused the disturbance.

There must be something wrong with him… That was why he couldn't fear any of his fellow telepaths. His mental abilities were being impeded by something. That was it. It was his fault.

"I want to belong," he whispered to the ground, another tear marking a damp trail down his cheek. "But I can't…"

He thought back to all those painful years he spent waiting – waiting for that one morning where he would awaken and find his powers were like everyone else's. Waiting to wake and find he fit in, that no one would tease him again… But every morning was the same. He would awaken to the harsh reality that he would never measure up against even the weakest of the other telepaths. That he hadn't changed. Nothing would ever change…

"It was all a joke… Time Force… being a Ranger… It might as well all been a dream… It was a dream… No one would ever let some talentless freak like me join something like that…" he said to himself. "I've been dreaming this entire time…"

It hadn't been real, had it? It couldn't have been. No one would let a Xybrian join Time Force. Having a telepath on strength would be like asking for a lawsuit; they had top secret things going on behind those walls… If there was even the slightest chance he could gain access to those documents…

But there was no way he could do that… He had no powers… He couldn't talk with other people through his mind, let alone see into their mind long enough or far enough to discover hidden secrets not meant for his own eyes…

What was he thinking? It must have been a dream… Him? A ranger? The very thought was laughable… What color would he have been? Green, the only color that would match his hair, he supposed.

"Me? A Ranger? It would never happen."

But if it was so impossible, why was he crying at the thought of it? How could he feel regret at losing something he never had?

* * *

"What do you mean 'who am I'?" Katie asked, looking at her sister as if she had grown another head, "I'm your sister, now stop playing dumb and welcome me home!"

"I don't know what you're playing at Ma'am but I don't know you! I've never seen you before! I don't even have a sister!" Jasmine said, shaking Katie free of her arm. "You must have hit your head – I'm going to call the paramedics to come get you…"

Katie let her hand drop, not knowing what else she could do. Her sister didn't know her…

"Jasmine, stop kidding, you must remember me…"

Her sister ignored her; instead of responding she pushed a few buttons on a tiny phone she had clipped to her belt.

"Jas, I don't need a medic – I need you to remember me."

"I don't have a sister Ma'am-"

"Stop calling me that!"

"I have a younger brother! I don't have a sister! And what am I supposed to call you? I've never seen you before in my life!"

A cold spear of pain lanced through Katie's chest but she refused to believe what was going on before her eyes. If she remembered her sister, surely Jasmine would remember eventually too… Jasmine said a few words on her phone link, Katie was too dazed to make out more than 'possible concussion, confused, and stark raving' before Jasmine tapped the phone off with more force than what was necessary. Jasmine glared at her and backed away a few more steps. She looked wary, Katie noted on some level, but why did she have any reason to be wary of her sister?

"The medics will be here in a few minutes… just stay there alright?"

"Jasmine…"

"Stop! I don't know who you are, stop calling me that!"

"What else am I supposed to call you!" Katie shot back, using her sister's words against her, "Jas? Moron? Pebble Head? I've called you plenty of things!"

"You're not my sister! I don't have a sister! How many times do I have to tell you?"

"Mom and Dad remember me! You're just being a brat! What, you jealous they bought me my own car?"

"What are you talking about?" Jasmine cried, throwing her hands up in frustration. "Never mind. You're sick, the medics are coming, keep this up and I'm going to call Time Force on you for disturbing the peace."

Katie looked around her, this was her yard, this was where she grew up, where she spent her childhood. She remembered every single detail about the place. Everything about her sister, her mother, her father. They couldn't have forgotten her… Jas was lying… she didn't have a brother… her family still loved her… she still had place here…

"Ma'am, we'd like you to come with us… everything's going to be all right…"

Katie looked back to her sister. She was standing with two men in white uniforms, arms crossed and still looking wary of how to handle the situation.

How could things be all right? When nothing was the way it was supposed to be?

* * *

"Wes? Who's Wes?"

Alex looked concerned, and well he should be, with his fiancée sitting motionless on the kitchen floor, staring at something he couldn't see.

"Jen? What's the matter?" He stood in the doorway, afraid of moving any closer and yet fighting the urge not to comfort her. He didn't know what to do – there was certainly nothing in the Time Force handbooks about handling a sobbing fiancée in the early hours of the morning. Alex didn't know much other than the handbook, but he knew one thing, he's rather handle a horde of Cyclobots than a crying female.

"Jen? Tell me what's going on," he tried his authoritative voice but all it served to do was make her tears lessen as she looked up at him – and the deluge increased in magnitude.

Jen sobbed, tears fell down her cheeks, though no sound came from her lips. Pain like she had never known before ate away at her like a sadistic virus, tearing her heart into pieces one cell at a time. She felt torn, ripped apart and she knew why.

She was alone.

Alex was right there with her, but she was alone.

She and the other Time Force Rangers had never gone back to the year 2001, Ransik had never set up a headquarters in the past and they had never enlisted the aid of Wes to unlock the morphers. He would never know her… Had he married someone else? What had their children looked like? Had he died happy? She couldn't bear thinking of him living with someone else, it wasn't fair.

Had she dreamed it all? Could she have dreamed of their adventure in the 21st century?

"Jen," Alex had finally gathered up enough courage to approach her. Laying a hand gently on her quivering shoulder he knelt down on the floor beside her.

"Jennifer, it was a dream – it was all just a dream…"

The fearful look in Jen's eyes made Alex quickly realize those weren't the words she had been wanting to hear.

"I have to go back. I have to see if he'll remember me! I have to go and see him!" she said frantically, her face blotching red enough to match her eyes. "It wasn't a dream Alex! I love Wes! I have to go back to him!"

"Wes? Who's Wes? Jen you haven't been-"

"I love Wes, Alex! I have to go back! Please!"

"Go back where, Jen?" Alex prodded.

"Go back in time!"

"Jen, you've never been back in time, your first assignment was cancelled when the Time Gate malfunctioned, remember?"

"You're LYING!" she cried, clinging to him not only in anger but in a desperate need for something solid to hold on to while her world was crashing down before her. "I've only just realized… I have to go back!"

"Your first assignment to go to the past was cancelled Jen! You've never used the Time Ship!" Alex said sharply. Jen noticed with a dull pain that he was holding back tears.

'How hard it must be for him,' she thought as she ran a finger along his cheek, wiping away the moisture that hung there, 'to hear the woman you love crying out for someone you know doesn't exist…' If Alex even noticed her gesture, he must have felt the lack of emotion behind it, as if she were doing it without thinking – which she was. She knew she was hurting him, but he had to know.

"I have gone back in time Alex," she tried to explain, "We went back in time to capture Ransik – he had killed you and…"

"Ransik is behind bars now Jen, I'm not dead – I'm right here… There's nothing to keep us apart."

Jen looked at him, the man she had thought she had loved. She had promised to marry him, but their trip to the past had interrupted their plans, and turned them around so completely there was no going back to the way they had been. She remembered the day he had proposed to her, she had thought feeling that happy was impossible, that no one else could give her what Alex had promised. She thought they were right for one another…

Then she had met Wes, the man who looked so much like Alex that it was unsettling, but for all their physical similarities, they had nothing else in common. Alex was by the book, never imaginative, never outgoing, always quiet and reserved. She had thought that was what she had wanted, a silent guardian, one to protect and love her. That was Alex. Wes was… opposite and yet… so much more.

He had so many different sides to him. Pensive, spontaneous, reserved, enigmatic… somehow it all fit together to form the man she found so intriguing. He had changed since the battle had begun – they had ALL changed, but Wes' transformation was the most noticeable. No longer was he hooked on appearances a show off and showboat. He had settled down from his old ways, his playboy days… he had settled down and yet still retained a charm Jen found so hard to resist.

He couldn't have forgotten her… She needed him…

This couldn't be happening…

Jen tried valiantly to pull herself together… Drowning in a manmade ocean was counterproductive. She had to figure out what was going on. It had to be some sort of trick. Alex was lying! That had to be it!

She looked at him, he was still searching her face for some hint of what he should do. Worry was clear on his features. He could have set the entire thing up… brought her back to the future… set up her computer… gave her something to confuse her…

"Jennifer… calm down… How about a drink of water? Would that be ok?"

He looked so lost; grasping at the situation any way he could, trying to help… Alex was different than Wes in a lot of different ways, but stooping so low as to drug his fiancée, because she was cheating on him… That wasn't Alex.

"P-please…" she said, catching her breath. Of course Alex wasn't the one to blame – which left only one other person to blame…

Alex pushed himself to his feet, and hurried over to the sink, glad to have something to keep himself busy. He returned in a moment with the glass in hand. Jen, after a great deal of effort, had also gotten to her feet and stood leaning with her forehead pressed against the windowpane. He handed the water to her wordlessly then stood beside her.

There was silence between the two of them, one they kept for a while, relishing the small bit of piece they had salvaged from after Alex's arrival. Finally Alex sighed and without looking at her he spoke, "there's something happening."

"Yes," she replied tersely.

There was no more to be said.

"Let me help you."

"I don't know if you can…" she answered, hitting the glass with a clenched fist. "I'm not even sure what's going on…"

"I'll do whatever I can," he said, then after a nervous pause, rethinking the events of a few minutes ago, "I love you Jen, let me help."

Jen nodded.

There was nothing else said between the two of them.

There was nothing left to say.

* * *

End Chapter Twenty-Two

Sorry again for the wait, hope it was worth it! Thank Giannola for kicking me in the butt again... Thanks hun!

I was so happy at the amount of reivews I recieved for the last chapter! I almost supassed 100 with the one chapter, when I was hoping to get over the mark for the whole story... Wow. You know what would be really awesome? If I could get over 150! Not saying that I'd hold back chapters if I don't get reviews, but I think that with all the people reading - or at least the ones I hope are reading - maybe 150 for that last chapters isn't so impossible after all...

Till later!

Satori B


	25. Psychotic Snapshots

Here be the next chapter! I hope you like it! And don't find it too hard to follow along with... Thanks to all my dedicated reviewers! I tried my best to get this out before you had to yell at me to do it!

We're starting to wind down - but that doesn't mean it's going to be smooth sailing...

Satori B.

* * *

_**Chapter Twenty-Three**_

_Psychotic Snapshots_

* * *

Silent dread and grim apprehension was filling the streets – a common occurrence in the city of Silver Hills since the arrival of Ransik. Yet this day was different, and even those unaware of Psykincon and his powers knew there were powers at work that were much more evil than Ransik's usually treachery. Many years in the future, residents of the city would look back on this day as one of the darkest in its history. Not for the death and destruction, for the numbers of people killed in the siege were few, but for the fear and darkness and the uncertainty of what would become of their city and way of life. 

It was like nothing they had ever seen before.

"_I'm not crazy! She's my sister! I don't know why she can't remember who I am!"_

"_Sure Miss, now if you'll just calm down."_

"_I will not calm down – you're calling me crazy!"_

"_Miss, no one is calling you crazy. We're here to help you."_

"_Then you're calling my a liar!"_

"_Miss, if you don't sit down, I'm going to have to ask the officers to come back in and assist you."_

"_I'd like to see them try."_

"It's just a matter of time, Ransik," Psykincon said steepling his fingers beneath his chin, talking to the mutant through another viewing portal. "The rangers are all entrapped within their prospective nightmares. It is only a matter of time before they loose all the will to live, and submit to the darkness of the Nightmare Realm."

"_Mommy, why is that man sitting on the side of the road?"_

"_He doesn't have anywhere else to go honey, now come along, we're going to be late."_

"_Hey you… Hey… I'm talking to you… Wake up!"_

"_I'm awake."_

"_Oh. Well you're in my spot."_

"_Your spot?"_

"_Yes, my spot. This is where I sit and feel sorry for myself. Now move."_

Alone in the Clock Tower, a grim figure sat perched on a rafter, flapping his metallic wings nervously, unable to stop the unconscious reaction. Circuit was at a loss of what to do, and for a robotic owl with computer intelligence from the year 3000, this was a strange thing indeed.

He had lost contact with the Rangers hours ago, he had tried every method of regaining communication he had been programmed, and also a few he had accumulated by snooping in various files kept in Time Force Headquarters – only to see if he could access them, not because he had actually intended on using them. But there didn't seem to be any way of reaching the Rangers.

"_Jen, where are you going?"_

"_I need to find a way back."_

"_A way back where? To the past?"_

"_Yes. I need to go back to the year 2001."_

"_Jen, you've never been to the past…"_

"_You don't believe me?"_

"_Of course I believe you… but…"_

"_Alex, I need to go back. Wes needs me."_

"_Do you have a plan?"_

"_I'm making this up as I go."_

"Excellent work, Psykincon," Ransik said, his voice garbled from the communication link, "remember though, the rangers are resourceful. If there is any way to escape their prison they will find it."

"There is no escape, they will be trapped there until the darkness takes over their soul, and leaves only an imprint of their souls behind," Psykincon grinned triumphantly. "They are mine."

"Do not make the mistake of underestimating the Power Rangers," Ransik cautioned as the connection started to fade out. "And don't forget, you don't have all the Rangers in your nightmare prison…"

"_This isn't happening… this isn't happening… This is a dream…Take deep-"_

"_OOOO… THAT DIDN'T LOOK GOOD. IT LOOKS LIKE NUMBER 21, DRIVEN BY EMILE BANDEREZ, WILL BE OUT OF THIS RACE FOLKS!"_

"_Lap twenty-two… Come on Lucas, there's got to be something you can do…"_

"_AT LEAST HE'S ALL RIGHT FOLKS – LET'S GIVE HIM A HAND!"_

"_Stay calm… This is a dream… It's Psykincon… he's messing with me… I need to think of a way out…"_

"_AS OUR RACERS ENTER THEIR TWENTY-THIRD LAP, I'D LIKE TO THANK OUR SPONSORS…"_

Dark fires still burned, raining from the sky, but with far less frequency than of the first fall. The worst was not the phantom flames that did not die even when drowned in a deluge of water, but the dark, cold, ominous shadow that had swallowed the city. The sky had long since turned a sick color of gray, and with each hour, the center of the cloud above the city grew blacker and blacker. Most noticeable was the gloom the storm seemed to bring with the city. No one ventured outdoors, for fear of the magic flames that were still falling from the sky, so the streets were empty.

"_You don't have a plan?"_

"_I haven't gotten around to thinking of one yet."_

"_Then where are you going?"_

Psykincon dissolved the portal with a wave of his hand, with more force than what was really necessary. The last ranger he mentioned was far too injured to retaliate against him – if he wasn't in a hospital somewhere in a coma… He would be no threat, but Ransik's words had brought a damper to the satisfaction Psykincon had experienced from watching the Rangers suffering through their worst nightmares. There was no escaping from his Nightmare Realm. He was sure of it. Though, Ransik had spoken truly, even though he would never admit it, he would take Ransik's words to heart.

After all, he had lost to the Rangers more times than he could count. He certainly should have gathered something from all those losses.

"_Ma'am, can you tell us how you got to the Walker residence?"_

"_I don't know! One minute I was… somewhere else, and now I'm here – in the future."_

"_Are you trying to tell us Ma'am that you came from the past?"_

"_Does it look like I'm coming from this time period?"_

Circuit looked up at the swiftly darkening sky and flapped again, chirping in his agitation. First they had lost Wes to Psykincon and his manipulative brainwashing, then Eric, after being forced to fight Wes, or the Dark Knight as he had named himself. Eric was still in the hospital, and would be for awhile, from the look of the injuries Wes had inflicted on him.

Make that, the injuries the Dark Knight had inflicted on him.

"_Sorry. You can have your spot back."_

"_Nah, go ahead, I'm feeling gracious today."_

"_Thanks a lot."_

"_No problem. So who are you, and why are you in my feel-sorry spot?"_

At times like these, Psykincon realized, it was better not to sit back and think about the possibilities of things that might happen. Action was better than thought, and it serves much better for distracting a busy mind. Beaconing the Dark Knight to his side, he touched a finger to the once-mortal's forehead.

"You will entertain me, Knight. Go and procure me some amusement," he grinned. "Leave a trail of grief in your wake. With it I shall spread the essence of the Nightmare Realm throughout the city."

"_I'm going to headquarters."_

"_Time Force Headquarters? What are they going to do?"_

"_Nothing. They're not going to help me do anything."_

"_Jen…"_

"_What Alex?"_

"_You're not going to…"_

"_I've already stolen a time ship once…"_

Without its people, the city seemed broken. Silent, but for the crackle of the mystical fires, and the looming booms of thunder echoing – sounding as if it were coming from far away, but the only cloud in the sky was the monstrous swell looming above the city.

It was only a storm – a storm that brought lengthening shadows and a rain of fire. But somehow, no one in the city could pretend it was anything but a prelude of darker things to come.

"_Think Lucas… think… You can't get out the door… you don't have any control over the wheel…"_

"_LET'S PUT OUR HANDS TOGETHER ONCE AGAIN FOR OUR WONDERFUL SPONSORS!"_

"_Not to mention that the brakes aren't working…"_

"_WITHOUT THEIR GENEROUS DONATIONS WE WOULDN'T BE WATCHING THIS DRAMATIC RACE TODAY RACEFANS!"_

"_That's getting very distracting! Think Lucas! Psykincon must have said something…"_

Next Jen had disappeared into the night. Most likely to search Psykincon out herself and try and get Wes back. When they had woken up that morning, they hadn't been able to contact her at all. It was only because of the Vector Cycle she had taken with her that they had been able to track her to the warehouses at all.

That had been the last time Circuit had received information from the other three. One by one, their morpher signals – and their cycles – had disappeared from his tracking program. First Lucas, then Trip and then finally Katie. With the technology he had been written with, he should have been able to track them anywhere in the world, not to mention anytime they could have found themselves in. He had scanned every century from the Jurassic period to the Renaissance, and everywhere between, before and after. But there was no sign of them.

Which left only one possibility.

Actually, there were two possibilities, but he didn't dare dwell on thinking about the Rangers being… well… gone.

"_I'm not sure who I am anymore. I thought I knew… but now I'm not so sure."_

"_Well. You have to be someone. Everyone's a someone."_

"_But the someone I was… isn't anymore… That doesn't even make sense."_

"_Makes perfect sense to me. But then again I'm not the one sitting on the side of the road feeling sorry for myself am I?"_

"_No…"_

"_Why are you feeling sorry for yourself?"_

"_I'm… not sure… Because I'm not worthy of being a Power Ranger…"_

Without a word, the Dark Knight bowed deeply before its master, and silently exited the shadowy chamber. Once again resting his chin on his hands, he thought upon the situation he found himself in.

"_I'm going to ask you one more time Ma'am, how did you get to the Walker residence?"_

"_What do you want me to tell you? I fell through the sky? 'Cause that's what happened!"_

"_She's lost her mind…"_

"_She must be mad, sir."_

"_You keep talking where I can hear you I'll show you mad. I fell through a hole in the Nightmare Realm?"_

"_The Nightmare Realm?"_

"_Now see why I didn't tell you? You won't believe a word I say anyway."_

"The Rangers are mine, and the city will soon follow… Ransik will soon find himself not contending with the Rangers in his quest to dominate the city… but a much stronger adversary…"

"_Jen, there must be another way."_

"_Do you have any ideas, Alex?"_

"_Do you remember anything else?"_

"_All I remember before waking up here is talking to Wes… We were arguing… He wouldn't tell me where my friends were. Then he did… He said they were living their worst nightmares…"_

"_So?"_

"_The last thing I heard was Psykincon asking me what I was afraid of…"_

"_You're telling me that this…"_

"He's taken them to the Nightmare Realm…" Circuit murmured, looking over the city. "Be strong Rangers… You have to be… The city needs you…"

Another rumble of thunder echoed above the city.

"Hurry back… You've got to come back…"

"_This IS_ _just a dream! My worst nightmare reliving this race…"_

"_I don't know what's going on here, but that rat Psykincon's behind it all somehow."_

"_Alex, I'm sorry."_

"_What am I sitting here for?"_

"_I've got to get out of here…"_

"_Jasmine would never forget me! My family loves me!"_

"_I've got to go back. I need to save Wes. My place is in the past – I know that now."_

"_I can't sit around in doubt. I always knew I wasn't as strong as the other Xybrians… I accept that…"_

"_This is my nightmare… That means I have control over it. I'm not afraid…"_

"_I know my family will never forget me, or replace me, no matter how long I'm in the past!"_

"_I need to go back Alex. I don't belong here with you – not anymore…"_

"_I am strong, I can do this."_

"_I'm not afraid!"_

"_I'm in control!"_

"_This is my dream!"_

"_My dream!"_

"_MY DREAM!"_

In the Nightmare Realm, at the crossroads, something strange was happening. The sky was lightening… The mist was lifting… The gloom, the dark, soul-sucking gloom that stole the warmth from the deepest corner of your heart was dissipating… And all around, the strange sound of something cracking was echoing through the endless, empty plains…

* * *

_End Chapter Twenty-Three_


	26. Echoes

**_Chapter Twenty-Four_**

_Echoes_

* * *

The sound of glass shattering echoed across the plains of the Nightmare Realm. The stillness of the empty plains was unbroken, and then suddenly, it was as if a rock had been thrown into the very window of the world. The mist on the ground was receding, burnt off like dew with the arrival of the morning sun. All around the Realm, the darkness was turning back, fleeing to the very corners of the world. The Nightmare Realm had been broken. 

A final, deafening shattering could be heard, as a fist punched through the floor.

A scream of triumph followed the fist, echoing to the very corners where the darkness was trying to hide. It was a scream of victory over something once thought impossible, a scream of anger and rage, directed at the most hated of enemies, and a scream – a cry – of hope, that with this accomplished, the final goal was at last within sight.

As if this scream was an impetus, a signal to all others captive by the shadow world, more shattering could be heard across the Nightmare Realm. The floor was in pieces; the gaping holes were growing rapidly. Soon four distinct, unkempt figures slowly climbed from the growing holes in the floor. With each movement, they brought down more of the floor – it would shatter beneath their fingers and clatter to the floor somewhere lengths below. Somehow they managed to stand and after a few moments they found each other across the broken landscape. Their movements were slow, and shaky, but growing stronger. Their faces and expressions were grim but there was dark resolution in their eyes.

The very fabric of the world was unraveling, the only thing holding the place together was its ability to draw on negative emotions, the single-minded determination roiling off the group wasn't a negative feeling, but neither was it a positive one. It was a weak hold, and growing weaker by the moment as their hope grew. The group of four examined their surroundings, and finding the place to be of no further threat to their mission they nodded sharply to one figure in the middle. Raising her wrist to her mouth, she pressed a button and spoke clearly and slowly into the strange device.

"Circuit, we're coming home."

With those four words, the darkness of the Nightmare Realm faded for good. The four found themselves awash with white light, and then, just as quickly they were back in the warehouse where the whole mess had started.

"Come on guys, we're got a job to do."

* * *

The Dark Knight surveyed the business district. It was completely devoid of any movement, except the legion of cyclobots that were systematically destroying everything in sight. He looked over the wreckage of the parked cars, and the shattered glass littering the square. His job here was finished. Chaos was attained. Now to follow orders and move further into the city. His duty was to spread chaos and discord. Examining the debris-lined streets and listening to the screaming and crying of the various mortals who were fleeing before the carnage came to close for comfort, he knew he had done everything there was to do here, it was time to move on. He felt nothing at what he had accomplished here, no sense of satisfaction or enjoyment, only the compelling need to spread more chaos, as per his instructions. 

He knew nothing other than what he was doing now. He was built to destroy, and when that was accomplished, he was to destroy more. Killing and bringing darkness, those were his two ultimate goals, those and anything else the Master ordered him to do.

Directing the cyclobots forward with a wave of his hand, they continued onward, bringing their legion of darkness further into the city. Overhead, the storm circled and thunder continued to rumble ominously. Clouds darkened the sky, making it so the Dark Knight's armor blended in to the pseudo night. Nothing could stop this figure engulfed by the shadows, the Rangers had tried, and they had failed; now he was a one-man demolition crew. He sliced down a lamppost in passing, not noticing the cyclobot that was following too closely behind him and cracking its visor in half.

Nothing would stop him from finishing what he started; Silver Hills was as good as-

'_Wesley, don't you turn your back on me!'_

The Dark Knight looked around him, impassively, there was a mortal here somewhere, how could that have escaped his notice? Looking around, however, he saw nothing. There were no humans anywhere.

'_You're _nothing_ like him!'_

Another voice, a female? This one was a little bit less faint, but he could still see no body to attach the voice to. The Dark Knight shook his head, there was no time for this, he had more things to destroy – filling the air with screams and cries of pain would drown out these strange voices coming from nowhere. Sheathing his sword, he surveyed the area once again, and then moved onward, taking the army of robot drones with him.

* * *

"_Jen, are you sure about this?"_

"Circuit, I'm not sure about anything, but we have to do something. The Dark Knight is laying waste to the city, and the only way we can defeat him, it to defeat Psykincon." Jen said speaking tensely into her communicator. After a quick stop at the Clock Tower to gather their thoughts and prove to Circuit that they really were still alive, though a little worse for wear, the four rangers were back on their Vector Cycles. Circuit had found traces of Psykincon's mutant signature coming from, of all places, the beach.

"You're sure about the coordinates?"

"_For the last time Jen, I'm sure. I don't have any idea why he would be there, but that's where he is…_"

"Alright, thanks Circuit. Talk to you soon. Jen out." Jen cut the connection to the robotic owl and refocused on the road. So. The beach would be where Psykincon would make his final stand? Fitting, as it was the first place that Jen, Katie Trip and Lucas first set foot in the year 2001.

They reached the beach soon enough. Traffic was light, which was understandable seeing as how most of the roads seemed either overrun with debris, fire or cyclobots. Jen hated leaving the Cyclobots to their own devices, but she had to trust that the Silver Guardians would be able to keep the robots at bay, even with their leader lying in the hospital. Parking their bikes and hopping off in one fluid motion Jen stood and surveyed the three other rangers before her.

"Ready guys?"

"Ready," they affirmed.

As one they cried, "Time for Time Force!"

"This ends today," Jen said. The others nodded.

* * *

They found him perched atop a minivan, apparently waiting for their arrival. 

"Greetings, Rangers. Shall we skip the pleasantries and move directly to the part where I defeat you again?" Psykincon called wryly from his throne. "Although if you don't mind waiting a moment, I was just watching the end of Silver Hills, brought on by your own former Red Ranger…"

The battlefield was deserted. Not that Jen could blame the citizens of Silver Hills, she wouldn't be thinking of heading to the beach for some sun on a day like today either. She took in the surrounding objects… there wasn't much in the way of cover for when the fight actually started. Empty cars sat desolate in the parking lot where they stood off. The boardwalk and the concrete fortifications holding it up undoubtedly would be the first things to be decimated. They would provide decent protection, as would the snack hut on the Rangers left. That was all though. The sand and waves wouldn't be very helpful in avoiding the mutant's barrages of powerful energy blasts.

"Why don't we move to the part where you surrender?" Trip asked.

"You can not honestly believe that after all I have done, I would surrender to your far inferior powers?" Psykincon laughed and the high, dark sound lifted above the faint crashing of the waves. "Be serious Ranger, I have won. You can not defeat me."

"You had your chance," Jen said, calling forward her chrono-saber. "Enough talking."

"As you wish, Ranger. After this battle you will be begging for the comforts of the Nightmare Realm."

The four rangers rushed forward, not waiting for Psykincon to stand. With little effort, he leapt from the hood of the minivan and stood waiting for their attacks. He didn't have long to wait. They laid into him with unrestrained fury, and a melee of swords and blasters. They hit him with everything they had, knowing this would most likely be their final chance at defeating him.

Lucas had his chrono saber, and he and Jen teamed up, tossing each other back and forth and hitting the Nightmare mutant with their Time Strikes. He deflected them with ease, sending the energy back at the blue and pink rangers, but they danced out of range before the attacks could connect. Katie and Trip didn't seem to be making much headway either. The two stayed in the back, getting shots in with their blasters whenever Jen and Lucas were out of range. The two took shelter behind different pieces of concrete – that and the boardwalk were going to need a lot of maintenance before they were suitable for use again – and used their communicators to synchronize their hits.

"Jen!" Lucas called, from over the staccato sounds of the blaster onslaught. He had just been hit with the tail end of a deflected time strike, and was favoring his right shoulder. "We can't keep this up forever, we're getting tired and he doesn't seem to be affected by anything we're throwing at him."

"I know," Jen shot back grimly, "Keep going. This is all we can do for now. We'll think of something."

Lucas didn't answer. He knew it was the truth. He threw himself back into the battle, ducking and dodging under random bursts of dark energy the mutant was throwing from his fingers. He surveyed the field. Katie and Trip were making progress and gaining ground on the mutant, but at what cost? The two were sporting many painful looking bruises and would be lucky to hold their positions for much longer. Gritting his teeth, he got in a slash at Psykincon's shoulder and joined the green and yellow Rangers where the two of them were shooting off great bursts of energy, hoping to break the mutant's defenses.

"How're you holding up guys?"

"Not great," Katie admitted. "We need something stronger, but we can't catch a break to put our weapons together!"

"I know," Lucas agreed. "We need Wes…"

"Your Wes isn't coming back to you Blue Ranger," Psykincon mocked, scattering the three of them with a well-placed shot of dark energy. "In fact, I believe right now he is in the middle of destroying your precious city – which is exactly what I will be doing as soon as I rid you of your tenuous hold to this dimension."

"Wes will come back to us!" Jen cried, appearing above Psykincon in a flurry of pink energy. Using his moment of gloating as a distraction, she drove her chronosaber through the mutant's shoulder before he had the chance to dematerialize. Psykincon gasped in pain, and stepped back. Jen stepped back and then charged at him again, screaming for the other three of join her. Blue, yellow and green blurs launched themselves at the nightmare mutant, trying to press their momentary advantage, but it was for naught. Psykincon recovered and once again began easily deflecting all of their attacks.

"You can not defeat me Rangers!" Psykincon growled, throwing the four of them to the ground once again. "I will send you back to the Nightmare Realm for all eternity!"

Jen narrowed her eyes at the overly confident mutant. "Guys," she muttered under her breath, "I've got an idea." She glanced back at the mutant, who was throwing balls of energy in their direction, screaming in rage as they hid behind a large cement blockade.

"Well, any time you're ready to let us know…"

"He's weakening," Jen said quickly.

"Are you kidding me? He's still throwing those things around like there's no tomorrow!" Katie exclaimed.

"He might be throwing them around, but he's hitting things at random. We've got one more chance to get rid of him once and for all."

"One more barrage like that last one he laid on us will finish us Jen," Trip stated quietly.

The knowledge lay on the group like a heavy cloud. It was the truth though, and the Rangers had to face it. Grimly Jen looked to her friends. Trip was breathing heavily and numerous burn marks covered his uniform. Lucas' shoulder was definitely bothering him, making his pick and choose when to take a shot, to preserve his energy, and there was a huge gash across his back where he had failed to jump away from a surprise attack. Even Katie was showing signs of weakening, despite her superior strength, she was leaning heavily on her blaster and had her other hand gently lying on her stomach. The pain of Psykincon's attack on her in the Nightmare Realm probably hadn't healed enough to be able to take this much movement so quickly. Jen surveyed her friends, and seeing them in this rough shape pained her – not that she wasn't in pain enough already – the light at the end of the tunnel was indeed becoming fainter as this battle wore on.

Yet, the light was still there. And while there was hope, she would keep fighting.

"I know, Trip. But this is the last chance we have. He's weakening… We can do this."

"We have to," Lucas said.

"For Wes," Jen said quietly. The other three nodded grimly. Another shot from Psykincon rattled the small concrete fortification they were crouched behind. Growling something obscene under her breath, Katie took her blaster and fired off a succession of energy blasts, to give them some more time.

"So… what's the plan?" Katie asked rejoining them.

Jen thought of the best way to phrase her next words.

"We blast the balls off that sucker."

"What do you think we've been trying to do Jen?!" Lucas asked in exasperation.

"But first…"

* * *

"_Pizza again? We just had pizza last night!" _

Another unfamiliar voice…

It was happening again. There was a voice saying something to him, but the Dark Knight couldn't tell where it was coming from. He twisted and turned drawing his sword from its sheath, hoping to catch the speaker unawares and frighten them into revealing themselves, but so far he had seen no sign of them. He glared darkly at the robots surrounding them. They sounded nothing like the voices in his head… that meant it was coming from someone else… Now if only he could catch sight of them so he could run them through with his sword.

_"There are, in some parts of this deranged world we live in, things called miracles and happy endings."_ Again came that strange female's voice. It struck a chord in him, deep down, but he couldn't tell why such a thing would make him feel anything. It irritated him. He had more important things to do than wonder what was going on with these strange voices. When the person revealed herself, when he found all the people who were whispering to him, you could be sure that they wouldn't be making such a foolish mistake as coming near the Dark Knight ever again. He would make sure they wouldn't be making any mistakes _ever_ again…

* * *

The area was silent, save for the slight gasping sounds coming from Psykincon. This stalemate, though he would be loath to admit it, was desperately taxing his powers. The reinforced spell he had laid upon the Dark Knight had depleted a vast amount of the mutant's mystical energy, and the powerful bombardment he had been laying against the Rangers was probably not the most brilliant thing he could have done. But it could not have been helped. The Rangers gave him no choice but to retaliate, and the time had finally come where he had the means and opportunity to rid the world of them forever. They would not get the best of him. 

Everything was in place. The Dark Knight was firmly under his control and nowhere near their battlefield so he would be unable to interfere with what was to come. Ransik was out of the Nightmare mutant's hair. Although, this had meant forming a grim ultimatum with the mutant overlord, the end bargain was worth it. Psykincon would just have to make sure he wouldn't have to follow through with their agreement, and the only way to do that would be to destroy the Rangers here and now.

With one last slow intake of breath, the Nightmare mutant steadied himself and rotated on the spot. Searching for his four adversaries. They had been far too quiet these past few minutes. After that last barrage of yellow energy, there had been no sign of his colorful enemy.

"What's the matter Rangers? Have you run out on our final battle so quickly?" he taunted, feeling his power slowly returning to him. The longer they stayed hidden, the worse it would be for them. He could only get stronger. "And I so wanted to run the pink one through before we finished…"

Still no response from the Rangers.

There was no movement from anything around him. Decimated cars burned sadly, ruins of their former glory. The same went for the snack hut. Smoke seeped slowly from the windows and the once cheerful sign, which listed the items for sale, was now barely attached to the front of the building.

"While you've been playing hide and seek, Rangers, I've thought of the order I'm going to destroy you in. Does this give you any comfort? To know I've been thinking of you?" Trying to hide his uneasiness, he stalked around the battlefield, taking random potshots at anything that could hide his enemies. "Oh yes," he continued, blasting apart a Jeep standing in his way, "I know exactly what order I'm going to kill you in." There was still no response from the Rangers.

Something was definitely wrong. But, he reasoned to himself, the Rangers were all but defeated, they were standing on their last legs. They had nothing left in their bags of tricks.

"First the green one, because I want to hear him scream as I pull that gem from his head. I haven't heard a good scream in a long time… Then, then I will take care of the fiery yellow brat… You I will play with for a little while, just to show you how powerless and weak you are. I will take great pleasure in making you squirm Yellow Ranger. I wonder how long it will take before you break before my… ministrations." His was growing angry. More blasts followed his rant, which was steadily increasing in volume and wrath.

"After her, I will take you, Blue Ranger. You are quite the pitiful one, you know. Your nightmares… Full of flame and fire… I will make you taste true fire before I let you go. Back into your worst nightmare, so I might enjoy watching your eternal suffering. Watching a true phobia assert itself, and to watch you lose your mind to that fear… I will greatly enjoy your torment Blue Ranger!"

"Finally! Finally we come to the great Pink Ranger! The leader… It is only fair that such a leader be made to wait to the end! I will make you watch the death of your friends Pink Ranger! You who has caused me so many problems!" He let out a burst of energy, all around him, hoping to somehow find where they were hiding.

Nothing!

"You almost made me lose my servant! That spell I placed on him was near-unbreakable, but you had to go and ruin it!" the Nightmare mutant screamed. "For that I will make you suffer! There is no end to the pain and suffering I will expose you to! Nothing will keep you from me Rangers! I will find you! And when I do I will make you wish you had never been born!" With that, he sent a wave of energy so intense that the few cars left standing after his violent rant were sent flying out of the parking lot.

"Well?" Came a voice from behind him. He turned around, his mind buzzing. "We're waiting."

With a clash of swords, the end of the battle began for the final time.

* * *

…"_We've got another job lined up! And it's not hauling garbage this time!"… "So what exactly is your kind of girl?"… "Where will you go now?"… "You're just a rich-boy, who's had everything he's ever needed in life handed to him…"_ Everything was running together in his mind… These voices, these people who were taunting him, they must be hiding from him… He couldn't get these strange voices out of his head… 

The cyclobots paid him no heed and continued in their task of destroying everything they could get their hands on. It was getting so hard to focus…

There was only one thing to be done about these voices. If he couldn't tell where the voices were coming from… then he would just have to destroy everything in the city. Until he was certain there was nothing left…

That would get rid of the voices…

They would plague him no longer. The city would be silenced. He would destroy everything. The voices would leave him. He would finish what he started.

Nothing will be left of the city.

Nothing.

He would take down everything.

Anything…

Everything…

To get these strange voices to stop…

* * *

Few people can say that they have fought with every single fiber of their being, because few people ever have the need to. These are the lucky people; not having to know at what point their body feels like it is never going to be the same, if it will ever recover. Few people in the world have moments where they are bargaining with their bodies, promising to treat it better in the future if it will just keep moving for just a little bit longer. Athletes face this, of course, but not nearly to the same extent that the Time Force Power Rangers were feeling at that moment. Fighting with every last scrap of energy they could muster. Knowing that if they gave up now, everything would be lost, and trying valiantly to convince their bodies that this happening was far worse than a little more pain, a little more fatigue. 

"Come on…" Jen wheezed to the others through the communicators, "just a little bit longer."

Their plan had worked out exactly as she had expected. With a little help from some cloaking technology, courtesy of Circuit and Trip, and a very convenient root cellar in the Snack Shack they hadn't planned on stumbling across when they fell through the back wall, the Rangers had procured a moment to catch their breath – and a stretch of time long enough to send the already weak and paranoid Psykincon over the edge. He had tired himself out, screaming and throwing out bursts of energy while the Rangers gritted their teeth listening to his vulgar comments. Jen and Lucas had to forcibly (as much as their own injuries limited their movements) restrain Katie at one point during his tirade. Jen couldn't blame her though; she came close to leaving the relative safety of the cellar to shout a few obscenities back at him too.

"You… will… never… defeat me, Rangers!" Psykincon screamed. "I am the all-powerful lord of the Nightmare Realm! My power knows no boun-"

"Yeah, and you talk too damn much!" Katie yelled, blasting him in the stomach. She kept the trigger pulled and screamed at the others, "Well, what're you waiting for?"

"Lucas!" Jen cried.

"Got it!"

Lucas seemed to materialize out of nowhere, and stood opposite to Katie and adopted a similar stance. "Phobia this asswipe…" he muttered thickly and trained the blaster on the Nightmare mutant.

"What's this? A final… barrage?" Psykincon was struggling under the assault, trying to escape from the two blasters, to no avail.

"Trip!"

"Ready, Jen!" Trip staggered out from behind the ruins of the Jeep and aimed at the Nightmare mutant. "You've caused enough trouble in this world Psykincon."

"Brave words, Green Ranger, do you have anything to back- ARGH!"

Trip pulled the trigger. Another full-powered blaster ray hit the mutant. Psykincon could feel his power ebbing away. He had to…

"This is for Wes…" Jen whispered, and appeared in front of Psykincon. Her visor was down on her helmet, and through his pain, Psykincon could see the death-glare the Pink Ranger was sending his way. "Consider this the last problem I'm causing you."

Her pink blaster ray joined the other three, catching him in a four-point barrage. The pain was indescribable… His energy was dissipating and he could hear, as if it were right next to him, the Nightmare Realm crumbling and melting into nothing… A scream of pain and fury tore at his throat, but he had no energy to let it go any further than that. He could feel himself letting go, ready to turn into his miniature form…

He was put at rest by one final thought. Even if they destroyed him, the spell he had put on the Red Ranger would not dissipate. It would last until the end of time. Of course, it would not take the Dark Knight nearly that long to destroy everything in the entire city…

Looking up at the Pink Ranger, he let his hold on his physical form go. But not before sending her one last nightmare… A glimpse of the future as it was to come…

A vision of the Red Knight out of control... A ruined city behind him...

And the Rangers dead at his feet...

* * *

End Chapter Twenty-Four

* * *

I'm sooooo sorry guys... I hope you're still out there... I've on the final pieces of this story, and I finally have the time and gumption to finish it, and I know where I'm going. Thanks to any readers I still have, and super big thanks to Giannola for poking me again. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I quite like how it turned out! 

Satori Blackthorn


	27. Resolutions of the Worst Kind

Hey everyone!!! I thought none of my readers were left after my prolonged absense!! But it seems like I still have some of you out there!! Thanks so much for your kind words and encouragement! The next chapter will be out soon, I promise… You're going to really hate me if I pull another disappearing act… But don't take my word for it… Check out the latest (and second to last) chapter below!

* * *

_**Chapter Twenty-Five**_

_Resolutions of the Worst Kind_

The moment Psykincon adopted his miniature form, Jen sank to the ground, partly in relief, partly in complete and utter exhaustion. He was gone. They had finally beaten him and had him in custody. Now for the Dark Knight…

She repressed a shudder at the thought of the being in Wes' body. The brief vision she had seen before the mutant had finally given up his larger physical form had been horrendous. She now had a greater appreciation for the horrible nightmares Wes had been having before this mess had even started. She might not have been born in Silver Hills, or spent most of her life here (in this century at least) but she still thought of this place as a home away from home. She did not want to see the place destroyed and left in ruin. She wouldn't let it happen. If only it wasn't so hard to move…

"We did it guys…" Katie breathed, demorphing into her civilian form, still holding her stomach. "We did it…" She sounded as if she hardly believed it herself.

Jen took a look at her friends, strategically assessing their conditions, as well as checking them out with concern as a best friend. Lucas was demorphed and was sitting on a piece of concrete. Trip, also out of his Ranger uniform, was wrapping a piece of fabric he had torn from his shirt around Lucas' shoulder which was still slowly bleeding, but could have been worse.

"_Rangers! Rangers! Are you alright?"_ Jen forced a tired grin to her face, same old Circuit…

"We're fine Circuit. Just taking a breather. Psykincon's been cryogenically contained."

"_I was so worried! I knew you could do it!_"

"Then why were you worried, Circuit?" Jen teased. Then, turning serious she asked, "Can you give us the Dark Knight's coordinates?"

"_What!? You're in no shape to take on the Dark Knight! Come back to-"_

"Circuit…" Jen said her voice taking on an edge of authority. "Can you get us those coordinates or will we have to find him on our own?"

"_He's on the move…_" the robotic owl said grudgingly, his eyes flashing as they processed her request. "_Right now, he's on Western Boulevard heading towards Crescent Drive… If you take the Vector Cycles you should be able to catch up to him before he gets to the park._"

"The park?"

"_From the way he's heading, that's where it looks like he's heading… It could be worse; the park's deserted right now… Jen? Jen? Are you still there?"_

"Guys, get moving." Jen said, interjecting ice into her voice so as to disguise the fear that was eating away at her heart. The Dark Knight was heading to the park… The same park she and Wes had visited? It must be… From the sounds of his coordinates… But why would he be heading there? Unless he had remembered something about his past… But…

Something smelled rotten about the whole mess. But there was nothing to do about it.

"Let's go. Morph and call your bikes."

"Jen… just another few minutes… We're in no shape-"

"Every minute we spend here, the more damage the Dark Knight inflicts in Wes' body. More people who could be hurt while we're resting. I'm leaving. Who's coming with me?"

Her friends stared at her as if she had lost her mind. Before they were able to work through their shock at the drastic change in Jen's demeanor, she had called out and activated her morpher. She was dead set to go on without them.

Trip walked over to her slowly, expecting her to bolt with his approach, and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"What do you want Trip?"

He couldn't see her facial expression through the tinted visor on her helmet, but his Xybrian empathy, though not nearly at the same level as his fellow aliens, was strong enough to feel the waves of fear rolling off his friend. Fear coupled with a sick sense of dread and foreboding.

"Don't be afraid, Jen." Trip said reassuring her with a small smile and a squeeze to her shoulder. "We're coming with you. We'll get him back."

Trip didn't need to be able to see through the visor, or his Xybrian sense to know that his words had impacted deeply. The slight change in the set of her shoulders – as if the weight sitting so heavily there had shifted somehow, and parts of it transferred elsewhere. The waves of fear, dread and foreboding were still strong, that was no different, but the relief coming from the realization that she wouldn't be facing this alone helped to abate it a little bit.

"We might not come back from this one, Trip," Jen said.

"I know. We know. But we'll go anyway, just like we go all those other times when the outcome isn't certain."

"That's what we do," Lucas said, coming over to join the Pink and Green Rangers.

"We're pretty good at making it out of impossible situations," Katie added, following Lucas. "It'd be a shame to break our streak by not even trying."

"Thanks guys…" said Jen quietly.

"Here we go then," Lucas said, "bring on the impossible."

* * *

"Where are you!" The Dark Knight screamed, throwing his head back in frustration. "Stop whispering from the shadows and face me!" He whirled around, looking for the mysterious speakers, but there was still no one to be seen. Any one still in the area ran off as soon as they had spotted the motley group of cyclobots approaching, and anyone straggling behind picked up their feet when they saw the armored form of the Dark Knight stalking behind them. However, there wasn't anyone left in the area other than the Knight at all, including the cyclobots. In his frustration and near-madness brought on by the recurring whispering voices, the Dark Knight had destroyed the cyclobots, and anything else within range that moved or shifted in the small amount of wind still making its way through the storm ravaged city.

"Come and face me!"

"_What gave you the right rich-boy?"_

"Stop talking to me!"

"_Let me take it for a test drive…"_

The Dark Knight screamed again and took his sword out and started brandishing it wildly. Just a moment ago he felt a great disturbance, and a sudden loss of something disappearing from the back of his mind. He couldn't have explained it with any more accuracy than just a weight being taken from him. It didn't matter what it was, he couldn't explain it any more than that, and he didn't care. He was here simply to destroy, and he had accomplished so much of that already. The rest of the city was his for the pickings. The citizens were terrified, he relished in their screams of fear and pain. The storm was still brewing over the city, growing darker and darker as more time passed. And here he was.

He had taken great joy in destroying the metal puppets Psykincon had supplied to him. At the time he hadn't seen the need, but now he realized that in lieu of buildings, people or Rangers to destroy, the Cyclobots filled the void nicely, even though they weren't made of flesh and blood. It kept his sword sharp and his temper smoldering.

"_It was just a dream and only a dream,"_

"FACE ME!!!"

No one answered his screams to the heavens.

* * *

If there was ever a time where Trip wished he could be anywhere else, it was right now. Speeding towards the location of the Dark Knight with the other Rangers beside him, decked out in his green Ranger outfit, he should have at least gleaned a little bit of comfort from the fact that he wasn't alone. It wasn't happening. The feelings he had felt on the surface of Jen's mind had disturbed him more than he had let on to the others. It seemed like the strange feelings he had been feeling for the past two weeks had been the foreshadowing of what he had experienced with Jen at the end of the Psykincon battle. Everything was coming to the fore, and the strange, discontenting feeling that had been his shadow for the past while… he would finally see its face.

Whatever face it would be wearing, either the Dark Knight or Wes, they would have to wait and see.

"_Ok guys…"_ Jen said soundly strained over their communicators, "_We're here. Watch yourselves, and don't approach him on your own. The Dark Knight is not Wes. But somehow we'll find a way to bring him back."_ She paused. An uneasy silence grew between the four of them. "_Guys… I just want to say…"_

"_Party back at the Clock Tower when we get Wes back?"_ Katie slipped in, reverting back to their witty pre-battle banter.

Jen laughed, and even though it was a quiet one, full of uneasiness and sadness, it was still a laugh, and that was what the team needed.

"_Yeah, party at the Clock Tower."_

"_Cake on Lucas,"_ Katie said.

"_Drinks on Jen,"_ Lucas retorted.

"_Let's just get this over with guys. We'll be back home in no time,"_ Jen said. A measure of peace was restored over the group. Trip had remained silent throughout the whole ordeal.

That feeling of uneasiness still hadn't disappeared.

Their bikes ground to a stop. They had come to the coordinates Circuit had sent them. There was carnage left everywhere. Ruins of what looked like Cyclobots littered the streets. Luckily for the general population of Silver Hills there weren't a lot of buildings in the area, otherwise Trip feared they would have looked a lot like the pavement and trees that surrounded the entrance to the park. Some of the trees looked like they had been sliced through with a very sharp blade, not just blasted apart like the rest of the debris around the area. Trip figured that the Dark Knight was getting more and more frustrated with something.

Trip, Lucas and Katie looked askance at Jen, waiting for directions.

"He can't be very far," Jen called back. "The robots are still smoking. Trip and Katie take left, Lucas and I will go right. Any sight of Wes, radio the other group immediately and try and hold him off."

"No need, Rangers," came a silky voice. "I'm right here."

Jen whirled around to see the source of all her fears and reservations standing right behind her. He looked different. She could see immediately there was something wrong with him. Even compared to their last meeting, when it was obvious he was not the same person they knew before, there was something even more corrupted about Wes this time. The Dark Knight towered above her imperiously, the dim sunlight filtering through the thick clouds made his armor shine dully. The same could not be said for his eyes, which were iced over in a cool blue color. They somehow seemed to be absorbing all of the light from the Dark Knight's face, making the shadows play across his face in the most disturbing manner. He smiled down at her, but it was not out of amusement, rather it was the grin of a madman.

Jen knew she was in a dangerous position, but seeing him before her, alive and looking so similar to the old Wes they all knew and loved she found her body unwilling to follow what her brain was screaming at her to do. Before she could convince her body to listen to her mind, he drew his arm back and had a hold of her by the throat.

"Jen!" the other Rangers cried, also stuck in standstill.

"W-Wes…" Jen managed despite the tight grip the Dark Knight had on her throat.

"It's been you…" the Dark Knight growled, ice blue eyes flashing in madness and fury. The other Rangers ran towards Jen and her aggressor, but when they came within five feet of her the Dark Knight tightened his grip on her throat so much that Jen could not even manage to cry out in pain. "Another step and I'll silence her for good."

The other Rangers stopped short, not knowing what to do. The Dark Knight loosened the hold, but didn't let her go. Jen struggled to take in a few raspy breaths, and clawed at the gauntleted hands that he had wrapped around her throat.

"It's been you…" the former Ranger continued, the icy glint still in his eyes. "It's been your voice I've been hearing. I've been waiting to silence your voice… Why won't you stay out of my head? Why are you in my head?"

The madness poisoning him was apparent in his voice now. Something deep within his mind had snapped with Psykincon's last spell on him. He had no recollection of who Wesley Collins had been, or why he had become the Dark Knight. Where before the fears exposed by Wes' prolonged stay in the Nightmare Realm had been a driving point for his Dark Knight personage, this version of the former Red Ranger was driven by blood lust, and a never-ending thirst for bringing devastation and destruction.

"Wes… It's me…" Jen struggled out. "Don't you… remember? It's me… Jen."

"I don't remember you. I don't know any of you. All I know is that your voice has been in my head, and now that I've found you I'm going to stop you from saying anything more, forever." He grinned maniacally and put a hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Wes!" Katie screamed. "Stop! You have to remember! She's your friend!" The Dark Knight merely glanced up at the three of them, showing no emotional response to their words.

"Come on Wes! You can't do this!" Lucas pleaded, taking small steps closer to the pair of them.

Lucas' voice seemed to have more of an effect on the Dark Knight. It was barely noticeable, but his eyes actually focused on the blue ranger and he seemed to be thinking deeply for a moment. Jen, from the end of his death grip on her throat thought perhaps that he recognized the group of them as friends, that something of what Lucas had said had stirred a memory loose… but her wishes were in vain.

"Your voice is familiar also." He stated, as if he were commenting on the weather, "Once I have finished with this one, I will move on to silencing you. Soon there will be no one left to stop me from completing my bringing ruin upon this city!"

"Haven't you done enough?" Trip asked tentatively, taking a different approach to their perilous situation. "Isn't there anything else you want? Other than destroying Silver Hills?" The green-haired alien was trying to get a feel of the Dark Knight's mind, but was unable to glean anything other than an intense myriad of dark emotions and clouded thoughts. "Maybe we can help you…"

That, evidently, was the wrong thing to say.

"You? Help me? I do not need your help! I do not need anyone's help! I will single-handedly bring down this entire city, and then move on to another, and another, until there is nothing left! I am alone, forsaken by all, and I need no one… No one!" The Dark Knight screamed.

"Way to hit a sensitive subject, Trip," Katie muttered throwing her hands up in a placating manner. Then, to the Dark Knight she said, "let's talk about this in a civilized manner, how about we all demorph and head back to the Clock Tower."

"Enough talk," the Dark Knight growled, "I have heard enough from you and your friends… From now on I will speak with my sword." In an amazing feat of strength he lifted Jen off the ground. Even though the pink ranger was completely exhausted, and her body was crying out in protest, she kicked and struggled with all the energy she had left. The Dark Knight unsheathed his sword and Jen faced the startling realization that she had no escape plan for this sort of situation.

"No!"

"Jen!"

Trip, Katie and Lucas rushed forward, trying to reach her before the fatal stroke fell, but all of them were beaten to the punch by a familiar red energy blast making contact with the Dark Knight's sword, knocking it from his hands.

"You were never really good with a sword anyway…"

"Eric!?"

"You know anyone else that runs around in a red and black ranger uniform?" came the sarcastic reply.

With the energy blast, the Dark Knight released his grip on Jen, who, not wasting any time dropped to the ground and then leapt away from his questing grasp. She landed heavily in heap at the feet of her formerly hospital-ridden savior.

"But you're…" Trip said incredulously.

"Dead?" he scoffed planting himself in the midst of their group.

"Or pretty close to it…" Lucas suggested, clapping a hand on Eric's shoulder welcomingly. "Glad to see you with us, here at the end of everything."

"Think I'd miss taking another shot at this asshole after what he did to me?" he retorted. "Besides, I know how to take him down, and, unfortunately, I need your help."

"Another one of you?" the Dark Knight spat, recovering from the shock of having an attack actually break through his defenses. He retrieved his sword. "No matter. He will join you in your defeat. Prepare for annihilation, rangers!"

"He's talking like a mutant! I never thought I'd see the day!" Eric remarked, sounding as if he was going to have great fun bringing this matter up once this entire ordeal was cleared up.

The Dark Knight seemed to be made of similar anger and evil as the mutants they had faced. Letting lose a cry of rage akin to something from medieval wartimes, he sent a wave of energy at the five stationary rangers. Not expecting this sort of assault, they scrambled last minute to avoid the barrage, with moderate success. The time for talking was past, and the heat of battle was upon them. But this didn't stop them from trying to figure out the story behind Eric's sudden appearance, and the news he brought concerning what could be used to bring about the Dark Knight's downfall.

Through a series of team-ups and time outs away from the battle against the Dark Knight, Eric filled the four of them in on what happened since he was admitted to the hospital.

"It was so strange," he said taking a breather and calling out to the others, "Alex was in my head giving me all these points of advice. I highly doubt the man ever really liked me, and here he is in my head… As if I didn't have enough problems with this Clip thing to worry about why Alex is jumping into my subconscious."

"Clip? What's a Clip?" Trip asked, falling back and joining him.

"Long story, there will be time for that later. The important thing is that Alex told me how to stop the Dark Knight."

"Well? What're you waiting for?" Jen yelled, blocking yet another thrust of the Dark Knight's sword. "Tell us already!" She threw her attacker's sword at him, and then jumped out of the way of a second strike. The Dark Knight had recovered from the imbalance at having his sword thrown off the path it had been following, intending to sever her head from her neck, and adjusted his stance to counter Lucas as he came flying at him. The Dark Knight tossed Lucas aside with one toss of his arm and was ready and open to receive the blast from Katie's V-4.

"I was getting there," Eric said, grumbling something under his breath, but Jen couldn't be sure whom it was directed at.

"Get on with it, Eric!" Jen yelled, "Unlike some people, we haven't been lying in a hospital bed recuperating from our injuries – instead we've been out making them worse!" To emphasize her point, she collided with Trip in an attempt to knock him out of the way of a kick directed at the Green Ranger's head. In doing so, the Dark Knight's armored boots connected with her thigh.

"I get your point!" The Quantum Ranger yelled back, appearing at her side and cushioning her fall back to the ground.

"Thanks," Jen said grudgingly, picking herself off the Quantum Ranger.

"Ready to do some damage to this asshole?"

"If it'll help get the real Wes back, I'm ready for anything," the Pink Ranger said, nodding with conviction.

Though Jen couldn't see it, Eric smiled grimly behind his visor. "Alright, here's the game plan. To keep things simple, all we've gotta do is destroy the big pulsating crystal on his chest."

The other three rangers, within hearing distance of the Pink and Quantum Rangers stared at the two of them, pausing mid-battle. Jen too, stopped and stared disbelievingly at Eric.

"That's all!?" She cried in anger and perplexity, "why the hell didn't you mention that when you first got here?"

"I was working up to it," the Quantum Ranger answered in defense. "Geez, I bust my ass to finally find you guys, and I can't even enjoy a moment of suspense…"

"Shut up, Clip." Eric muttered, the computer program in his mind making comments. "But that's not all… Alex warned me about destroying the crystal. All he knew for sure was that the crystal is what powers the spell Psykincon cast on him… He didn't know if destroying the crystal would actually revert Wes back to normal, or kill him."

* * *

The Dark Knight, who unlike the Rangers, was not taking a break from the battle to listen to these startling revelations, was blasting at each of the Rangers in turn, not really discriminating long enough to think about which one was within his sights. His blaster in one hand, and his massive sword in the other, he lunged madly at any of the Rangers who stayed in one place long enough. He would sporadically yell obscenities and death threats whichever one was the focus of his attention. His friends took no notice of the threats against their person and did their best to avoid the attacks he was throwing their way.

Noticing that the Yellow and Green rangers were crouching next to a brick wall, and focusing on their weapons and not paying attention to the battle, they became his next targets. Aiming at the Katie with the blaster, he fired a quick shot at her before leaping over to the pair, avoiding the other Ranger's blaster fire in the process. Before Trip could pay attention to an injured Katie the Dark Knight engaged him in a vicious bout of sword fighting. The victor of the short sparring match could be seen within moments of their engagement.

The Dark Knight was clearly the superior swordsman. Trip had barely enough time to call forward his Chronosaber before the Dark Knight was upon him, slashing and thrusting with all the anger and malice he possessed. The Xybrian dodged and weaved around the black sword tip, all the while trying to see out of the corner of his eye if Katie had recovered the blast. The Dark Knight quickly took advantage of his distraction and pressed his attack forward, pinning Trip to the wall with one hand on his shoulder.

"You should pay more attention to the battle going around yourself, Green Ranger, and less to if your friend's well-being. That way, you might survive long enough to help her…" The Dark Knight sneered, pressing Trip hard against the wall. "As it stands now, I'll finish her as soon as I've finished with you…" Throwing him to the ground, and at the same time, dodging a quick attack from Lucas, the Dark Knight shot the fallen Ranger with a succession of three shots to the torso. Unable to keep his Ranger form after all the other injuries, coupled with the last attack, Trip demorphed. He focused the rest of his energy into staying conscious.

"Trip!" Lucas cried, seeing the burst of energy that characterized a forced demorph. He blamed himself for the Green Ranger's plight, because he hadn't reached the Dark Knight fast enough. With an added burst of energy, fueled by the fury he felt because of Trip's state, the Blue Ranger took his turn in engaging the Dark Knight – to no avail. A brief dance of punches, sword strikes and lightning speed maneuvers, and Lucas was lying on his back in agony. The Dark Knight turned from his former opponent even before seeing him revert back to his civilian form. Lucas groaned, and even that slight movement brought sharp bursts of pain to his chest, where the Dark Knight had laid the finishing blow, a sword stroke that had gotten behind Lucas' defenses before he could parry and deflect it. Casting a glance across the battlefield, the Blue Ranger noted with dismay that Katie had also given in to the pain brought upon her by the Dark Knight's blaster, and sat cradling her left arm, blood dripping down her fingertips and leaning against a charred stump. Just like Lucas and Trip, she was fighting to remain conscious, but at the same time, trying to bring herself back into the battle.

"Two left…" the Dark Knight stated, shifting his stance to keep both of them in his field of vision. "Now, whom shall I leave for last? You, Pink Ranger? Or this annoying black and red creature who prevented your earlier demise?"

"Well he's got the annoying creature part right at least…" Jen muttered, thinking back upon their previous adventures with the Quantum Ranger.

"Watch it Pinkie," Eric growled, hearing her comment. "Any ideas?"

"Other than getting that thing off his chest? No. Not really," Jen said, appearing at his side.

"Good to know," came the Quantum Ranger's sarcastic remark. "I think it's time we brought out the big guns…"

With these final words, Eric launched himself at the Dark Knight, followed by Jen who was cursing the fact that her temporary partner still hadn't informed her of his plan. She thought of Lucas, Katie and Trip, all sitting on the sidelines of the battle, too injured to continue. How much longer could she and Eric hold up against this unstoppable foe? The Dark Knight was fueled by evil, negative energies, what did they have left that could combat such a force?

Eric ducked and weaved a series of punches the Dark Knight was throwing his way, so busy was he ducking and dodging he was unable to get in a good shot with the Quantum Defender. Jen's arrival in to the fight freed him enough time to adjust the settings on the futuristic weapon.

"Sorry Wes… but if this is the only way to get through to you…" Eric muttered, trailing off, not wanting to dwell any more on the subject.

The Pink Ranger set her jaw and fought tooth and nail against her former teammate. Even with the added knowledge that the crystal in his chest was the secret to bringing Wes back to him, it didn't make the destroying of such an artifact any easier. As if sensing her intentions, the Dark Knight kept a close guard of his chest – A sacrifice that allowed the duo to chip away at his arms, legs and torso, in an attempt to weaken him. Eric would aim a tornado kick at Wes' chest, only to bruise an armored forearm. Jen would take a series of shots at his legs at the same time, effectively slowing the former ranger down. Jen and Eric were making progress, but they too were tiring.

"Jen, keep his busy for a second."

"_What do you think I'm trying to do?!" _Came her harried voice from across his communicator.

"Just for another second, I just need one clear shot at the crystal."

"_Eric… it won't work… We've already tri-"_

"Not on full power we haven't." Eric filled in grimly. He knew the ramifications. The Quantum Defender on full power was enough to take down a fully-grown mutant. On a normal human being…

'Let's just hope that he's abnormal enough to make it through this one…'

"_Eric! You can't! He won't…"_

"I don't have anything left. You're almost dead on your feet. Trip, Katie and Lucas should be in a hospital somewhere… I can make the shot Jen. Just do your thing."

Eric knew Jen didn't approve. But there was nothing she could do about it. He had a point. This would work. He was sure of it.

He sure hoped he was right…

Jen dodged under another swipe of the huge sword the Dark Knight carried, spinning around in mid-movement to lay a kick into the Dark Knight's back. Before he could fully recover his balance, and catch on to the Quantum Ranger's prolonged absence, Jen flipped to the Dark Knight's side and wrenched the sword from his grip. Keeping a hold of that arm, and swiftly capturing the other with a snakelike movement that astounded even her, Jen locked the Dark Knight's arms behind his back. She realized she was greatly the weaker opponent in this match-up, but with every last reserve of strength she had in her, she fought back against Wes' struggling.

"ERIC!" she screamed.

The full powered blast hit the pair of them before Jen even registered Eric had taken his stance. All Jen had had time to grasp was an immense flash of light, the feeling of falling, a heavy weight on her chest, and then nothing.

The four remaining rangers experienced much the same thing.

Eric stared in disbelief. Where he had just leveled the Quantum Defender, where he had moments previous had Wes and the crystal dead in his sights, there was nothing.

Both the Dark Knight and Jen had disappeared – leaving behind only a charred blacktop, and glittering shards of a pure black crystal.

* * *

_End Chapter Twenty-Five_

Review please! It's almost the end of the story, and I'd really like to know what you thought of this epic… (maybe it's not an epic in length, but it was in how long it took me to write it…) Tell me what you thought of 'Rain' and also any suggestions you have for any other stories – Power Rangers or otherwise!

Thanks again for reading!

Satori Blackthorn


	28. Tell Me What's Real

Here's the one you've all been waiting for, hope it doesn't disappoint! Thanks to all my reviewers!! Any comments incent me into finishing my chapter, and let me tell you... the blocks on this chapter... were harder to get by than most...

* * *

_**Chapter Twenty-Six**_

* * *

"Shit."

"Eric! Where are they?!" Katie screamed. Eric wondered at the fact that she was near unconscious only a few moments before.

"I-I don't know…" he admitted, feeling the bottom drop out of his stomach. What had he done?

* * *

It took Jen a while to be able to feel all of her body parts and to assess that they were all still working. She groaned, as feeling came back to her it brought a fresh tidal wave of pain. It seemed like her old injuries didn't appreciate being blasted by a Quantum Defender on full power. Jen found herself sharing her aching body's opinion. Nonetheless, everything seemed to be in working order, it was a small blessing. The fact that she survived Eric's brainwave was another one. Now, to find out if his plan had worked… 

She took in her surroundings, to see what had happened to the Dark Knight, and felt a cold feeling enter her chest, a nagging, panicky feeling that told her something was terribly wrong. There was no sign of the battle that had just taken place… there was no torn up trees or pavement… the other Rangers were no where to be seen…

There was nothing to be seen. The place, wherever she had ended up was empty. Stark, cold, dark and empty.

"The Nightmare Realm."

Or mostly empty… She wasn't alone.

"Perfect," the Dark Knight rasped out, standing from where he had been hidden behind her. He clutched at the front of his chest, where his ruined armor was left in tatters from the blast. The armor's breastplate was unadorned, meaning that the dark crystal that had formerly been housed there had been destroyed. At least that part of the plan had been successful, the where the old Wes was supposed to come back obviously had not worked in the way the Pink and Quantum Rangers had hoped. "I would have preferred no other place than here to finally destroy you, Pink Ranger."

Jen withheld a curse. He hadn't come back… The Dark Knight persona was still in control of Wes' body. She had barely enough energy left to stand and find a way out of this godforsaken place, and she still had to eliminate the Dark Knight, before he eliminated her.

On the positive side, he didn't seem to be faring much better than she was at the moment. Eric's Quantum defender blast had greatly weakened him, destroyed the source of his power as well as the huge sword he had been waving around. The question was, did he still have enough power left to finish her off? Jen felt a nagging sense of intuition whispering in her ear that she had best thing of a grand escape plan, and quickly, at that.

"Did you think you would escape my wrath, Pink Ranger? Did you really think you could get away from me so easily?"

It unnerved her that he seemed so close to reading her mind. Only Wes had been able to do that. If the Dark Knight had inherited the same ability…

'If that's true… then perhaps destroying that crystal helped to bring a little bit of the old Wes back!' she thought, still not answering the Dark Knight's taunts. She focused her attention instead on edging away from the man intent on killing her, frantically trying to come up with a workable plan.

"You deserted me!" The Dark Knight screamed, and Jen came back from her inner thoughts. What she thought were incoherent ramblings brought upon her companion by the destruction of his power crystal, suddenly started to sound more like the old Wes. The note of insanity and darkness that poisoned his voice had lightened, if ever so slightly. Something was happening to the Dark Knight, he was changing. Maybe she still had a chance to get him back. "All of you! You left me!"

Jen stopped moving away from the Dark Knight and studied him. He was finally standing, but was leaning heavily on one leg, favoring his left. His entire face was covered in blood and tinted with the soot and dirt of the battle. He was almost unrecognizable from the proud, ignorant rich boy that had approached them all those months ago; wanting help them fight in their battle against Ransik. He looked so much different than the Dark Knight when he had first appeared. He looked lost – for lack of a better word.

"We've never left you, Wes," Jen said in a placating tone. This has to be some aspect of the spell Psykincon had placed upon their former friend. "We've always been here for you. We've been trying to get you back, Wes!"

"You're lying!" he screamed, falling forward onto his knees. He fought to regain his footing.

"No, Wes," Jen said back. She resisted the urge to go to him, to comfort him, but she knew that he was still under the influence of the dark spell. He could do anything if she tried to approach her.

'I just have to keep talking,' she thought. 'I have to calm him down, somehow.'

"Wes, I could never lie to you…"

He laughed disbelievingly and wiped a trail of blood and dirt from his face, revealing the stained and cut flesh beneath the gore. "You left me alone, to fight alone, to face the darkness alone! You say you could never lie to me? That you are my friend? You were never my friend, Jen! None of you! Not that Xybrian freak, the loudmouth yellow one, or that racecar pretty boy! None of you! I'm glad the darkness took me in!"

"Wes, stop, this is the spell talking…" Jen said. She could fight her instincts no longer, even against the small voice that was telling her to keep as far away from the Dark Knight as possible. "How can you even think that about us?" She walked closer to him slowly, watching for any change in his posture or attitude that might denote a change in him. She didn't want to aggravate him into an attack, especially now that she was that much closer to actually uncovering the old Wes from where he had been hidden inside the Dark Knight.

"No! No it's not, Jen!" he cried back, looking into her eyes with a ferocity that shook her to the very core. He truly believed in what he was saying. Though, the ice colored glow to his eyes gave away the lingering presence of the spell. "You deserted me! You never believed in me! All this time, all of you were laughing behind my back! Waiting for me to fail! I will not stand this torment any longer! I will finish what I was sent here to do!" He struggled to rise yet again, this time actually making it to his feet, though he was unsteady and wobbled back and forth with the grace of a calf first learning to walk. The only thing giving him the power to rise was the resentment he had for the woman standing before him, and the memory of the wrongs she and the other Rangers had supposedly laid before him.

"You can't possibly believe that!" she cried out in disbelief. Jen struggled to think of any past incident that would back up what he was claiming, but she could think of nothing. "I've always believed in you… I still believe in you, that you can overcome this…"

"Lies… Again, all lies!"

"When have I ever lied to you, Wes? You have to fight it! The only one who's ever lied to you is Psykincon! Think Wes! You have to remember!"

"No," he said coldly. "I will not remember the pain you put me through."

"Wes…" she tried again, "please… All that you're feeling, that's from the Nightmare Realm… None of it is real!"

"None of this is real? None of it, Jen? This pain I feel, you're telling me it isn't real? You're saying the pain I have inside, from you ripping out my still-beating heart, that pain isn't real?" He took a step closer to her, and she could feel the anger emanating from him. She had to get through to him, he was reverting back to the Dark Knight… but what could she do to crush the dark aspect of his personality? She was no expert in the eradication of evil personas… She was a Time Force Officer, not a psychologist or an exorcist…

"If I've ever caused you pain, Wes, you can be sure that it wasn't done purposefully. I've only wanted the best for you… All of us consider you a close friend; we'd never hurt you intentionally. I've never wanted to tear out your heart Wes, you're one of my best friends." Jen decided that admitting that really, she thought of his as more than just a friend, and wished they could be more than just friends, but she figured that right now, while he was under the influence of an evil mutant, wasn't exactly the best time.

"I can't believe you can say I never believed in you, Wes," Jen said, trying a new tactic, allowing a tone of betrayal and hurt to make its way into her voice. "I believed you about the dream. Remember?"

The Dark Knight growled and started to yell something back at her, but she didn't give him the chance to get a word in edgewise.

"You must remember! You hadn't had a decent night's sleep in weeks! Because of that terrible dream you were having…"

"Stop! I know what you're doing! You will not fool me, Jen!"

"What am I doing, Wes? You're telling me you don't remember the dream? The one where _you_ caused the deaths of the Rangers?"

She saw something flickering behind his ice blue eyes, and she hoped that it was a good sign that the track she was heading down was affecting him.

"Well, guess what Wes? If you don't snap out of this soon, that's _exactly_ what's going to happen," Jen cried. She put every ounce of emotion she had into her words. This was her last shot. If this didn't work, she didn't know what else she could do. She didn't have enough energy left for anything more strenuous than a verbal battle. And even that would be taxing on her. "You kill me here. Then what? You go and kill the rest of the Rangers? Then what are you going to do?"

The Dark Knight took another slow step forward, wavering back and forth like a drunken sailor. He seemed determined to reach her. But if she just kept talking… Maybe she could coax Wes back… Jen gathered her thoughts, and let him dwell on her last words. He had said the other Rangers had left him alone. Did he mean that they had allowed the Nightmare mutant to capture him? That made no sense at all. He feared being alone, that much was something she had gathered about Wes. Not that he had told her that interesting little factoid. But she could be very astute, when the situation called for it. He had said that the Rangers had betrayed him? That they were never friends? She would just have to convince him otherwise.

"What are you going to do when you kill us, Wes? Then you'll really be alone! You won't have anyone left at all. Psykincon's been captured, of course, I don't think he would have made a very good friend to begin with… Who will you turn to, Wes? What will you do?"

"Shut up! I won't be alone! You're just trying to confuse me!" the Dark Knight screamed. "It won't work! I know your conniving ways!"

"You don't know anything about me then," Jen shot back, picking up momentum. He was working his way directly into her argument. Soon enough, he wouldn't have anywhere left to turn. "You just think you do. Remember when I was captured? You said I didn't know anything about you."

"_How do you know this isn't the real me? You know nothing about me."_

"_I know you're favorite cereal is Cocoa Puffs and you had to have Phillips smuggle them into the house for you so the chef would never see them and take them away from you. I know you're afraid of centipedes and spiders. I know that if you could go back into your own past you would go back to your sixth birthday, before your mother died, so you could hear her sing happy birthday to you… I know you love the rain. I know so much about you Wes, it's like I've known you all my life instead of just these last six months…"_

"Stop it! None of that is true!" The Dark Knight yelled, lurching forward once again. The two of them were five feet apart at this point. Jen had stopped backing away.

"You know it's true, Wes. How could I know all that about you, if I wasn't your friend? The others know you too, Wes. They noticed how different you were acting when you were having that nightmare… They care about you, Wes. I care about you, Wes. How can you think otherwise? We're all your friends…"

"_Of course I want to know! They're my friends and damn it, they're your friends too!"_

"_They were my friends. I don't need them or you anymore, I have everything I'll ever need, thanks to Psykincon."_

"I don't need anyone. Especially backstabbing ones like you."

"Grow up," she said.

If the Dark Knight had been expecting anything from her – that definitely hadn't been it.

"Grow up," she repeated harshly. "The only one you're betraying is yourself. We've always been here for you, Wes. Who was the one who made you soup when you were sick? Katie. Who did you watch westerns with until 2:00 in the morning? Trip. Who do you talk about music with at random hours of the day? Lucas. Who was with you through boarding school? Eric.

"Who was with you when your father disowned you, Wes? Who helped you through that? Me. All of us. Who took you in when you decided to make your own destiny? What has that led to? You're living a lie, Wes. You're still following someone else's destiny, not making your own…"

"_So you'll be ordered around by some mutant then. You ran away from your father for trying to control your life but now you're willing to become the pawn of Psykincon? I don't know whether or not to call you a hypocrite or a coward."_

"_Don't call me a coward… Don't even pretend to know me or my life. You know nothing about what I've been through."_

"I live my own life…" the Dark Knight whispered.

"Do you, Wes? It doesn't look like it. You're lying to yourself if you think that any of what you're doing was your own choice."

Jen let the silence hang between the two of them. Something was happening around them. The Nightmare Realm was changing. It was slight, but something was happening. It seemed brighter... The shadows, fainter…

"You say I don't know anything about you, Wes. You don't think that I understand your life? It's hard to fully understand someone when they don't talk about their past. I know, because I do the same thing. I don't like to let others in, but if you want to be understood, like you say you do, you _have_ to let people in.

"What I do know about you, I understand Wes. I know all about the pressure to follow in your father's footsteps. It was the same for me before I turned off that route to join Time Force. My mother wanted me to be a doctor, like she was. I didn't let that influence me. I made my own path. You lost your mother as a child; my father abandoned my family when I was in high school. It's not exactly the same, but it's enough for me to be able to say that I can understand some of the problems that you've gone through. Maybe that's why I feel so close to you, Wes. We've fought the same battles. It doesn't matter if they were in different millennia. Human nature takes a long time to change.

"But what you have shown me, what you _have_ shared, I know. And I remember. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget."

The Dark Knight stared at her, accessing her voices and expression for any sign of a trick. Jen knew there wouldn't be one; because this was the most honest she could ever remember being. With anyone, Alex included. He lowered his guard, and Jen could feel the change of animosity in the air.

Cautiously, he called out to her,

"_Tell me about you. Since you know all about me, it's only fair that I find out more about you."_

"_What do you want to know?"_

"_Anything…something interesting at least."_

"_Well… I like strawberry ice-cream…"_

"_I knew that…"_

Jen paused. He had reverted back to the Dark Knight that had come on to her while they had been waiting for Psykincon in the deserted warehouse. That was progress, right?

"We've already talked about this, Wes…"

"So? I don't remember."

"It's going to go exactly the same."

"I don't care."

"_When I have time I like to jog…"_

"_I knew that too, think of something better…"_

"_Like what?"_

"_What you dream about, what you wanted to do when you were a kid…"_

"_Well… I've always dreamed of becoming an artist…"_

"_Why?"_

"_Because I loved to paint when I was a kid, but everyone always said my horses looked like mushrooms with toothpick legs, so I gave up."_

"_Oh."_

"_Satisfied?"_

"_Not really. What's your favorite memory? Where would you go if you could go back in time?"_

"An artist is pretty far from being a Time Force officer, isn't it?"

"Like I said, I realized pretty early on that I didn't have the talent for it."

The Dark Knight paused, like he was thinking deeply on what had just transpired between them. His forehead crinkled in the exact same way Wes' would when he was working on the morning crossword, when he finally rolled out of bed around noontime.

"So you never answered me…" he said, thinking back. Memories were returning to him. No longer was he simply a machine out for destruction, a puppet tuned by Psykincon and filled with false, implanted memories. Things were starting to come back to him. He could remember the conversation between the two of them in the warehouse.

"No."

"So what is your favorite memory?" he asked.

"I don't know."

The Dark Knight scoffed. "You must have something. You couldn't have had that dull of a life if you've been hanging out with me for so long. Even if it was the 'old me'."

"Wes, it's the same you," she said seriously. "You just have to realize it. Psykincon didn't change you. He didn't get rid of part of you. He doesn't have that power. He just twisted your mind and turned it upside down. That's what this place is about, isn't it?"

"I don't know," he shot back, cockily, sneering. "I didn't pay attention to him when he went on about his powers and how he controlled this place…"

A bolt of realization hit Jen. The small ember of hope that had been growing into a healthy flame with the progression of this conversation now sparked, flared and exploded into a roaring bonfire. Psykincon was defeated. The Nightmare Realm should no longer exist… Yet, they were still here. Even so, Psykincon no longer controlled this evil place. Which meant…

'All the changes… Whatever's happening here…'

She looked around, and saw that her surroundings had indeed changed again. The darkness that had seemed so stifling only moments ago was lightened from some unseen source. The mist that had obscured their feet, and the ominous feeling that had weighed down her mind, body and soul was dissipating. The shadows were no longer black. They were only shadows of their former, grim glory.

'It's because of Wes. He's in control here… It's his Nightmare Realm… This is his nightmare. It makes sense; this is what he had been dreaming of for the past few weeks. How much would I bet that it was all Psykincon's doing…'

Jen thought back to her own personal nightmare that she had been trapped in. She didn't know exactly how she had managed to escape. Once she had realized that nothing around her could possibly be true, she had just fought against it… She just stopped believing that what she was experiencing could be the truth, and took control.

Could that work with Wes? It wasn't the exact same situation, but…

"Wes, what do you see?"

"What the hell do you mean 'what do I see?'" he shot back, obviously believing that she was losing it.

"Answer the question."

"Well. I see an awfully dirty looking Pink Ranger standing in front of me," he sneered, "who won't be standing there much longer if I have anything to say about it…"

Jen interpreted the meaning of that statement in the more sexual connotation, as opposed to the murderous one. The glint in his eyes wasn't so tainted that he wanted to kill her. At least, not immediately.

"Other than that, Wes. This is important."

"That's all."

"Exactly," Jen replied.

"Alright, Captain Obvious. Thanks for pointing that out. We're in the Nightmare Realm, what's so important about that? You want that written in your obituary?"

Jen eyed him harshly. This was going to get old really quick. Who knew that Wes had this aspect of him hidden in his personality? Of course, she could say the same thing about the side of him that had nearly killed Eric and had attacked the rest of them with such ferocity. But then again, anything was possible with such a dangerous mutant twisting your memories and personality…

'He probably could have done the same thing to any of us…' she thought, not answering the Dark Knight in response to his last flippant comment. 'I wonder why he chose Wes. Was it because he's the Red Ranger? Or was he more susceptible to the nightmares?'

Jen thought about that for a moment. She recalled from a long ago conversation with Wes that he had often had nightmares growing up. He had suffered from night terrors, or something similar, after his mother's car accident, and the unpleasant dreams had never really stopped after that. She wondered how she could have never realized this about him before. It almost made sense now that he tried to sleep in until noon everyday. It wasn't enough to keep her from waking him up before that though, when they were out of this.

"If you're done with the introspection… Can we continue on here? I don't have all day. I don't know about you, but I have other places I could be," the Dark Knight folded his arms across his chest with only a faint wince. His wounds were still paining him, but the dark power that Psykincon had imbued him with had healed the most grievous of his injuries. The same couldn't be said about Jen. But if she didn't move, or breathe, too much, she could almost ignore the constant throbbing.

What was the best way to go about this? And was it really such a smart thing to show Wes that he had control of this place? Who knew what might happen?

"I'm done…" she drawled. "Now, you're sure that's all you see?"

"I'm sure," he replied. "Lots of shadows and darkness and stuff."

'He doesn't have the makings for a great villain,' she smirked internally. 'He definitely doesn't have the vocabulary for it.'

* * *

The other Rangers stood around the battle site, looking blankly at the pile of black crystals – the only things left after Eric had blasted the Dark Knight and Jen with the Quantum Defender. No one knew what to do. Scientifically speaking, they knew that Jen and Wes hadn't been destroyed in the blast. If that had been the truth, there would have been some sort of remains scattered around the site. But, they figured, a lot of their experience in being Rangers involved things that couldn't be explained by science alone. 

"They have to be somewhere…" Trip said, trailing off uncomfortably, knowing the question that would follow.

"But where are they?" Katie asked despairingly. "Circuit, can't you do a scan or something?"

The robotic bird chirped anxiously through the communicator, "I've tried! I can't pick up their DNA signatures anywhere!"

"Try getting Circuit to analyze these crystal fragments," Eric said, carefully handing a shard to Trip. "Maybe that can help us find Jen and Wes."

"It's an idea," Lucas admitted, "we've tried everything else…"

"Circuit," Trip said into his wrist, "I'm scanning the crystals energies through the morpher. See what you can find out."

"Sounds good, Trip! I'll get the information back to you ASAP."

"Thanks, Circuit. We're not going anywhere…"

* * *

"Wes, why can't you see – this isn't the real you! I'm telling you the truth! You have to listen to me! This place was an illusion that Psykincon trapped you in! You're in control of everything!" 

The Dark Knight looked down at Jen, "if this place was under my control, you'd be wearing a lot less clothing right now…"

Jen lost the thread of thought she was following and left her mouth gaping.

"And for the record, I don't care if this is the real me. You know, I've been doing some thinking, and from what you've told me about this 'Old Wes,' I think I like how I am now." He sneered in her direction before turning away. "Before I was quiet and never said what I really thought. I always did the right thing. Do you know how boring that is? You must – you do it all the time." He started walking away, evidently not thinking she was going to have anything worthwhile to say. "I'm done. Go away Jen, this New Me doesn't need you anymore. You don't know me, so stop thinking you do. Just, leave."

'How could this have gone so wrong so quickly?' Jen thought, her mind whirling with the words Wes had just thrown at her. She had been so close! Had she said something wrong? Was this still the spell talking?

A red surge of anger and frustration bubbled up in Jen. She would not give up on him so easily, even though he had clearly given up on believing anything she had to say. She would not leave him here. She would make him believe! She would!

All thoughts flying from her mind, she ran up behind his retreating figure. Knowing, somewhere deep in her mind, that this was a stupid idea, and was likely to only bring more injuries to her already broken body, she pulled him around to face her. Taking advantage of the fact that he was surprised she had laid a finger on him, she wound up and slapped him upside the face with all the strength she could muster. Then, without waiting for his reaction to the stinging pain in his cheek she stood, reaching on tiptoe, and kissed him.

His lips felt just as she imagined, though colder than what she had imagined in her dreams. She tried to tell him, without words, just how much she needed him back – how much he meant to her. She couldn't imagine where she would be, the person she would be, had she not met him. Though, on the rare occasion where she allowed her thoughts to drift along that path, she knew she would be very similar to the stick in the mud, rulebook toting, woman who was still very much engaged to Alex. She hadn't been a bad person, but deep down, she knew that her true self had come to the fore since the Time Force team had arrived from the future. She had Wes to thank for that. Now if only she could convince him of this fact.

For a few, painfully long seconds, the Dark Knight didn't respond. Then, as if somewhere deep inside, something was melting, or shattering piece-by-piece he started to respond. It was as if a fog was lifting from the frozen stone that had once been Wes' heart. He was waking up, but the spell, it would seem, had not taken its death grip hold from its host. The shock of Jen's actions only served to loosen it for a moment. It was weakened, and the Old Wes was starting to poke through the harsh façade.

"Wes… please…" Jen whispered as they parted at last. Her hands were on his shoulders, and his wrapped tightly around her waist. It was a tender scene. If only Jen could be sure it would last. "Please – just remember. You have people who care deeply about you! Trip's been a mess since his best friend started brushing him off. You should see him! He misses hanging out and watching movies with you. Lucas is more surly and uppity than ever. He stares into any reflective surface, but not for his face, for once. He blames himself; he thinks there was something he could have done to prevent Psykincon from taking you. Katie mopes around the Clock Tower in a daze wringing anything she can get her hands onto into small knotted, useless clumps. You're the ray of light that brightens everyone's lives, Wes. You have to believe you have a place with us. Even Eric, once he recovers from the wounds you inflicted on him, will forgive you, if you come back to us."

Throughout all of this, he said nothing. Jen took this to be a good sign. At the very least he was listening to what she was saying. She didn't think she could be any more heartfelt. This was her last shot.

"We need you Wes. We need your stupid battle comments, we need your cheeky grin during odd jobs, we need your leadership and determination to do the right thing and help anyone who needs it. You said I didn't know you. That's not true I know you. Sometimes better than I know myself. Your fears, battles, secrets, they're more real to me than my own." Jen didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the statement. For it was true – she had realized it long ago but hadn't been able to tell him. "Since I met you, I've learned to loosen up, to be myself. Because of you, I haven't had to hide… It's stupid, but I can be myself because of you… Please Wes… Say something…"

He was silent, still looking deep in thought. Then he leaned forward and captured Jen's lips with his own once again.

"It's good to be back," Wes murmured. Jen caught a glimpse of blue-green eyes before she became interested in more important things. So busy were the two of them that when the Nightmare Realm folded away beneath them, they didn't even notice.

The first glimpse Lucas, Katie, Trip and Eric had of their previously absent friends was one they wouldn't easily forget.

They had been waiting for it to happen for a long time, after all.

* * *

End Chapter Twenty-Six 

Don't worry, I still have an epilouge coming up... to wrap up any loose ends, and to have something a bit more satisfying to end the story that I've been working on for a few looooong years now... Hope you liked this chapter, it was full of hard stops where writer's block reared its ugly head, but over all, I really like it. Let me know what you think. I'm not sure about the ending part, but I feel that Wes' dark side had slowly been letting up throughout the whole chapter... I tried to make him progressingly less evil. Hope I succeeded! Any comments are welcome!!

I am,

Satori Blackthorn


	29. Epilogue: Like the Rain

Well, it's been a loooooong time. Like a ridiculously long time, and I don't really have any excuse for it other than writer's block and life busy-ness. Hope this is a least kind of worth the wait. Let me know what you think. I'm pleased with the ending, like I've said, this is the scene that I've had in my head since the very beginning of this adventure.

Without further ado,....

* * *

_**Epilogue**_

_Like the Rain_

_

* * *

__Eight Weeks Later_

Jen was standing in the window of the clocktower, looking out over the roadway in front of their home. She had been standing motionless for a while now, the object of her focused attention in a similar state.

"You know what I don't understand?" Lucas asked, determining that watching his two friends in this awkward state of not talking and avoiding each other wasn't worth the stress that it brought him. He would have thought that escaping the Nightmare Realm and the dark rule of its ruling mutant would have been enough to cement a positive relationship between the two of them – not to mention the major make out fest that he, Katie, Trip and Eric had the pleasure of witnessing as the Nightmare Realm disintegrated...

"Hmm?... What Lucas?"

Lucas rolled his eyes, aware of the fact that Jen was completely oblivious to his presence.

"What I don't understand," he said slowly, placing a hand on her shoulders, snapping her focus from the figure down below to the blue ranger, "is why you two are putting yourselves through this."

Jen's expression was one of regret.

"Lucas, it doesn't matter. It's behind us. We've got him back, that's all that matters, right?"

"If that was all that matters, you wouldn't be asking me that."

Jen glanced down at Wes. He was leaning on his recently-retrieved motorbike, his gaze lost somewhere amongst the clouds.

"But... Lucas, we're not part of this time, we're supposed to go back... I... we... can't stay..."

"Jen. Listen to me, and listen real good. That doesn't matter. Didn't you learn anything from this?" He scoffed, sounding his usual self, and not the preachy version he had been leaning towards, which was a welcome relief. "If you can't figure it out, then you don't deserve to know. And if you can't figure out what to do now... then you really are hopeless."

He belied his cool exterior with a brotherly half hug, and then disappeared into the upper living area, leaving Jen alone to ponder his words.

She couldn't lie to herself and say that what he said didn't resonate deep within her heart. She knew all her fears about what would happen when their time here was over was a product of her head, and not her heart, but listening to what that was saying? Instead of reason and logic? That was crazy... It would never work...

But then, what in their lives wasn't crazy? They were living in a Clock Tower a thousand years in the past. They fought in coloured spandex suits the majority of the time. How crazy was it to listen to her heart this one time?

Now, the question was, what was it her heart wanted her to do...?

From the insanity that was the Psykincon decable, she had learned a few things.

That it was possible to make a grand entrance through the walls of a empty storehouse on a Vector cycle.

That her relationship with Alex was strong, but not what it used to be.

That one should always listen to their dreams - especially repetitive ones that forecast the end of the world. And that listening and believing to these dreams was not necessarily the same thing.

And most the most important thing she had learned was that she could no longer imagine a life without Wes – and if she didn't do something soon, that would be exactly what she was facing. Sneaking a glance to the upper living area to see if Lucas witnessed her epiphany, she smiled, realizing she knew exactly what he had meant – and exactly what she had to do.

* * *

Wes stood outside the clocktower. It was raining, and he was without a hat or jacket, but he didn't care. It would have been an understatement to say that he was glad to be back. He was relieved, he was euphoric, he was estactic. It had been two months already, and that feeling still hadn't left him, especially when he thought about how close he had become to being stuck in the hellhole created by Psykincon. A thousand ton weight had been lifted from his shoulders and he felt he could have flown away.

And yet, he still felt.... Empty, hollow. Like there was still something holding him back. There was an ache that grounded his euphoria – but for the life of him he couldn't figure out why it was still there.

He should be feeling fine after the ordeal he had gone through. His father had enlisted the aid of the best doctors in the country, just to check him over after the 'ordeal', for lack of a better term. 'Possession' or 'the-unleashing-of-his-bad-side' brought up too many questions the doctors weren't capable of answering. He had registered a clean bill of health. What he felt, therefore, wasn't a physical thing. And he'd had more than enough time to recover from the worst of the superficial blows inflicted in their final battle.

It wasn't guilt he was feeling. Well, not entirely. He had felt a massive amount of guilt for the pain he had caused his friends, most notably Eric, who was still recouperating, and the town, which was slowly rebuilding. He hadn't originally wanted to make the public appearances with the other Rangers, but they had determined that the best way of regaining the citizen's faith would be to show everything was back to normal. The people were wary at first, but a few weeks of moving rubble and debris in their ranger outfits, and other such public appearances had helped to smooth things over.

Wes had felt overwhelming guilt once he had first come back to himself, but talking with Jen and the others had helped him realize that Psykincon's control over him had caused all those bad things to happen. And while it was still himself who initiated the acts, had Psykincon not been involved, they never would have happened. It wasn't the best pep talk, but it served its purpose. Wes was still coming to terms with what happened, but he wasn't beating himself up over it any longer. And besides, he was making great progress in helping the city rebuild – both as a multi-billionaire's son and a Power Ranger. Yesterday they had finished cleaning up the park. The week before saw the buisness district almost fully operational. There wasn't anything else he could do.

So it wasn't guilt, or physical pain. But despite his not being able to name the sensation or its cause, it still persisted in making his life uncomfortable. Not even the superhealing powers of double-fudge ripple ice cream had helped fill the hole – and Wes had been healed by much stronger pains with its soothing powers.

He looked to the sky, rain falling pattering onto his face, trailing down his neck. This was his last resort. A quiet moment to himself, walking in the rain. He had ridden his motorbike to the Clock Tower to check in with the other Rangers and figure out their schedule for the next week. Their work was done for the day – the repainting of some of the downtown buildings had been put on hold on account of the upcoming rainstorm. With nothing left to do for the day, he thought that a walk in the rain might help him figure out why he was still feeling so ... off. After all, it had worked, for the most part, the last time something had been bothering him. And that hadn't been that long ago...

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Wes sighed, knowing that following that train of thought was likely to only stir up some more introspective thoughts. And truthfully, he had enough of being trapped in his own head to last him a long, long time. Now was the time to get out of himself, and just walk in the rain. He started out, realizing he had been standing outside the clocktower a great deal longer than he had intended. Now that the park was cleaned up, it seemed like the most logical destination.

"Hey, you look like you could use some company," a voice came up from behind him. So caught up was he in his own thoughts and worries that he hadn't even heard her approach.

"Um, actually, I was-" Wes trailed off, shrugging his shoulders helplessly.

"I know," Jen answered. "Let's go."

* * *

"So you think things are going to be alright between the two of them?" Katie asked, leaning over Lucas' shoulder as he studiously tried to ignore her presence. "I mean, we ARE going to have to go back eventually..."

"What's your point, Katie?" Lucas asked, not even looking up from the magazine he was flipping through.

"Well, isn't it just going to hurt more? If they have their time together now, won't it be harder to leave when the time comes?"

"Probably."

Katie swatted at him with the magazine he had previously been perusing. "Lucas! That's horrible! Why would you-"

"Because that's the point, Katie," Lucas said with a note of finality. "Love, real deep down, tear out your hair, dancing in the rain, that kind of love, it doesn't come without a price. Real love isn't painless. If it's really worth the pain, then they'd go for it. And they should."

"Lucas..."

"Just because we might find our way back to our time doesn't mean that they should deny themselves of such a beautiful thing. It'd be like asking the rain not to fall. You can try, you can curse it when it doesn't listen, you can try and pretend it didn't happen. But no matter what, it's still going to rain, and you're still going to get caught up in the storm."

With those words, Lucas swiped the magazine that a speechless Katie was holding close to her chest. That tears were welling up in her eyes wasn't lost on Lucas.

"Now, this is about them. Not one word about me, or anything in the past, just... let them have their moment." He reopened the magazine to the page he had been at before their exchange.

She was silent a moment before replying, as if comtemplating the best way of following his heartfelt (if not a little hypocritical) speech. "Fine. But one day Lucas, you'll have your rainstorm," Katie replied, sadness coming through her words. "You're getting better at those analogies, you know."

"I've been working on it."

* * *

"So..."

"So?"

Wes coughed, hoping to cover his awkwardness. "So, how about that weather?"

If there was a scale of 'lame and completely inappropriate conversation starters' this one would be near the top.

"Well, it's been a lot better since that huge freak storm disappated..." Jen replied, making it clear to him that it wasn't the weather she intended on talking to him about. "Wes, we need to talk about what happened."

"We have talked, Jen. It's been two months, all we've done is talk about what happened. I don't want to talk about it anymore." Wes said, kicking a stone near his foot perhaps a little too enthusiastically. They had somehow found their way to the park, which after the battle and all the work put into it by the city and the Rangers, it looked even more beautiful than before. It was a small comfort to Jen, to know that things could be better. Wes, on the other hand, appeared to not even notice where they were, let alone the changes to the park...

"If we're supposedly done talking about it," Jen shot back, tempering the edge to her voice, "then why do you still look like you're lost in a fog?"

Wes didn't reply.

Jen sighed. "Wes, I know it was a horrible thing, and no one expects you to be able to get over it quickly, but-"

"But what, Jen? It's going to be okay? The city's forgiven you? We can rebuild? Anything you have to say to me I've already heard. I don't need to hear it again." He was shutting her out, and Jen couldn't believe how different the man before her was from just a few months ago.

Though, anything was a welcome change from the Dark Knight, she grudgingly admitted to herself.

"I just want to forget..." he murmured.

"Wes, please. Listen to me," Jen stepped in front of him and waited until his face turned to hers. He was glaring, and a shadow had fallen across his features, but at least he was looking at her again. "I know that I can never understand completely what you're feeling right now. And I know that it's a hard thing to ask, but you have to get over it."

"Get over it!?"

Jen nearly slapped herself at her choice of words.

"What I mean is, you have to forgive yourself." It wasn't a lot better, but the correction would have to stand as it was for now. "It's hard, but you have to, otherwise you're never going to be able to get rid of that hollow feeling inside of you."

That caused him to look up. Disbelief was etched in his angular features. His disbelief turned to suspicion quickly, "how did you know that's what I was feeling?"

"A little green-haired birdie clued me in. Wes, everyone has a dark side to them. Psykincon was able to use yours to his advantage and turn it against you."

"And everyone else I care about..."

"Yes, but that you had a dark side – and probably a pretty miniscule one to begin with – isn't your fault. He was a powerful mutant, with powerful and dangerous abilities, you couldn't have known what he was planning."

"It isn't that I'm feeling guilty about Psykincon being able to turn me... evil... well, not entirely." Wes struggled to find the words. It was hard, finding a way to turn into words a voiceless, empty, all-consuming fear that was nestled deep inside your heart. Jen let him think for a moment, though she didn't let him turn away from her face. She wanted him to be able to see that she was still there, waiting for his answer.

"It's... this feeling that now that I've seen my dark side, that it might... That I might not be able to control it again. That I might let it go again," Wes answered, haltingly, as if afraid that just admitting it to her would unleash his inner demons before the world again. "You can't understand, Jen. It was just so... easy... to let the darker side out. To let him talk to you like... to talk to the others..." he stopped, ashamed at what he was saying.

"Wes, that wasn't you..."

"But it was me, Jen! At least some part of me."

"Yeah, some part of you that you've always been able to keep under control, up until some evil mutant's dark crystal made that impossible, and even then you were able to fight your way back. That should make it clear to you of which side is stronger. We shouldn't even be having this conversation!"

He scoffed. Making his thoughts on the matter abundantly clear.

"Wes, shut up for a second and let me say this, because I'm only saying it once. You fought your way back from the control that Psykincon had on you – not once, but numerous times. The entire time that he had a control over you, you were still able to remember your friends, remember your past, remember our voices. The entire time you were under his control, you didn't once hurt someone -"

"'Cept Eric..."

"Except Eric, but he had it coming."

Wes laughed at that. It was the first time in eight weeks where she had actually seen him smile.

"And that was nothing irrepairable. The point is, that even though you were a bad guy, you're good guy side was still too strong to make you a really good bad guy."

"Jen," Wes said, completely serious. "That didn't make any sense at all."

She laughed, somewhat sheepishly, "You know what I mean. And besides, it made you smile so it was worth sounding like a complete moron. You're a good guy, Wes. You just have to remind yourself of that. Don't forget. You came back from the dark side on your own."

"Not completely on my own, I seem to recall having more than a little help on that front."

And again a sheepish grin crossed Jen's face. She suddenly found her hands, intertwined in front of her, the most interesting things in the world. "Yeah, about that, sorry about the slap. And for any of the other harsh things I said..."

"And the kiss?"

"Oh."

"Yeah..."

There was a shared silence between them. This, unsurprisingly, hadn't been a topic discussed in the previous eight weeks. It probably wasn't the best moment to talk about it, they both realized belatedly, but since it had so awkwardly come to the forefront, it was a good a time as ever.

Life and movement continued around them, as if there wasn't a huge life-changing awkward pause going on before them. Despite the slight shower, the park still had plently of denizens wandering about; Mothers pushing their young children's in strollers, people jogging along to ipods, dogs and their owners chasing after frisbees and soggy tennis balls, were all oblivious to the importance of the scene transpiring with the two young people standing side by side on the park's only bridge.

"About that, I just wanted..."

"Jen, I know, I understand that you were trying to snap me out of Psykincon's control and that was the only thing you could think of, after the slap, so it's okay. It didn't mean anything. We can just go back to how things were before." He looked down at the small river meandering under the bridge beneath them, he couldn't bear to tell Jen such a heartwrenching lie to her face. Her reflection in the agitated water would have to suffice. The rain softly falling around them was hardly noticed by either of them. They were already soaked from the walk over, the tempering drizzle was the least of their concerns at the moment. Wes was more preoccupied with trying to keep the disappointment and pain out of his voice and features.

Jen, on the other hand, was doing her best to keep from screaming at the idiot man standing beside her. Could he really think? ...

"Besides, you're going to be going back to the year 3000 soon enough, I mean, we've almost captured all of Ransik's mutants, it's only a matter of time, right? And plus-" Wes stopped babbling when Jen gently placed a hand on his arm.

"You don't seriously think that I kissed you because it was the only thing I could think of, do you?"

"Well, you had already slapped me..."

She shook her head. Her mother had been right all along, apparently. Boys were dumb.

"Wes, I kissed you because it was the only way I could think of to show you that I didn't forget you, that I didn't leave you alone, and that I do really care about you," Jen smiled. "I kissed you because I love you. I slapped you because you were being an ass."

Above them, as if triggered by a heavenly switch, the skies opened up. The park's other visitors all dashed for cover while the two young couple held their position on the bridge, not wanting to leave before their conversation was completely wrapped up. Their reflections in the water beneath them were now completely obscured by the ever-spreading ripples from the rain. It fit their warring emotions inside, if doing nothing else but making it necessary for the pair to look at each other instead of at the reflections beneath them.

"But... what about Alex?" Wes was almost afraid to ask, but the words sprang unbidden to his lips.

"Wes, _you're_ the reason why I fought so hard against Psykincon. _You're_ the reason why I don't want to go back to the year 3000. Alex has nothing to do with it. And it certainly wasn't because I couldn't think of anything else to do. I just... listened to what my heart had been telling me to do for months now." She smiled up at him, unashamed of the words she was saying, "Wes, you're the reason I like walking in the rain."

Coming from anyone but her, it would have been cliche, or insincere, something from a bad chick flick or those romantic comedies that Katie was so fond was watching, but coming from Jen it was real. And, Wes realized, she was completely serious. He couldn't believe it. Fighting the urge to cry out in joy, where only moments before he had been convinced he'd never be whole again, he smiled, the grin lighting up his features like the sky above them wasn't completely obscured by rainclouds.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to say that." Realizing Jen felt the same way as he did caused a light to spread across his features. "I love you too, Jen. You're the reason I came back," he said, trying to convey as much of the emotions he was feeling into his words. He placed a tender hand on her own and it was like the hole in his heart was slowly disappating. Like the clouds from Psykincon's storm, the empty feeling was being replaced with something more solid than fear and guilt.

It was hope.

It was warmth.

It was faith, and friendship, and he thought, more than just friendship.

"Thanks for never giving up on me," Wes said.

"Thanks for coming back."

"I had something special waiting for me at the end of the tunnel," he grinned.

Looking up at the skies above them, Jen said, "It's raining. We should head back."

"Ah, but where would the fun be in that?" he shot back, bringing her into his arms. "You'll never see the rainbow if you don't wait until the rain's done."

From her position in his arms, feeling more happy than she should while being soaked to the skin, Jen looked up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Is that supposed to be a clever metaphor for this relationship?"

"Just stating a fact. Wait, relationship? That's what we're calling this?"

"Wes?"

"Yeah?"

"For a former bad guy, you still haven't gotten over the bad habit of talking too much at inopportune times."

"I thought we weren't going to talk about my being a good bad guy anymore, it's embarrassing..."

"Shut up and kiss me, you idiot."

Knowing better than to ignore a direct order, he complied, and for the first time in a long time, he was too busy with other things than to worry about sorting out all his problems with a walk in the rain. It was something he could see himself getting used to.

And even if they didn't have all the time in the world, they had this moment, and they had the reassurance that the future was never certain, that things could change in an instant. That much they'd managed to prove time and time again. And they would always have the rain, and the memory of the times they shared together.

It wasn't a lot, but it was something. And for the two of them, for now at least, it was enough.

_'Like the rain I have fallen for you and I know just why you  
Liked the rain always calling for you, I'm falling for you now  
Just like the rain I have fallen for you  
I'm falling for you now just like the rain...'_

_Like the rain..._

_

* * *

_

The song at the end in italics is George Strait's 'Like the Rain'.

Hope it wasn't too anticlimatic. I figured I had put the two of them through enough across the course of this story... They kinda deserved a sweet ending, don't you think?

For those who have stuck with me across the years, who have kicked me in the butt to keep writing, who have encouraged, commented or even just taken a look at this story - thanks. I wouldn't have been able to finish this if it hadn't been for you.

65558 word later, I most contentedly bring 'Rain' to a close. It's been a pleasure.

~ Satori Blackthorn


End file.
